Kevin Durant returns to practice for Team USA, TBD on Games debut

LILLE, France — Kevin Durant practiced Wednesday, and coach Steve Kerr said there will be a “big collaboration” in determining when the program’s all-time leading Olympic scorer will make his debut for Team USA.

The team’s training staff, Durant’s Phoenix Suns and his representation are all involved as they manage the delicate issue of Durant returning from a calf injury and his intense desire to play for his national team.

“It’s not just our training staff, but [USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill] is constantly in touch with Kevin’s people and with the Suns,” Kerr said. “This is not going to be like us going out and saying, ‘Hey, let’s just throw him out there.’ This will be a big collaboration.”

Rich Kleiman, Durant’s agent, told ESPN that Durant has been working tirelessly to return to play and he could’ve played during Team USA’s games in London.

After holding Durant out of Monday’s game against Germany, Kerr said Durant was “day-to-day” and that the plan was for him to have “a couple practices in a row and a scrimmage” before he’d be available.

This indicated a slowdown in the team’s approach as previously Kerr said he hoped Durant would be able to play one of the games in London. In 2019, Durant was playing for Kerr with the Golden State Warriors when he tore his left Achilles following a calf strain in the same leg.

The first Olympic pool play game is Sunday against Serbia.

Team USA is planning to have a contact practice Thursday in Paris where Durant can hopefully take the next step in his return. He suffered the calf strain a month ago.

“The plan is for him to get in the scrimmage and see how he handles that,” Kerr said. “He looked good today and he did everything and got a lot of shots up and told me he’s feeling pretty good.”

Beyond Durant, the focus for the team over the last several days was the number “28.” That’s how many more 3-pointers Germany took than the Americans in the narrow 92-88 victory.

That is not a winning math equation. The Americans shot 35% from 3-point range in the five exhibition games before coming to France, averaging 25 attempts per game.

“They shot like 20 or 30 more 3s in us, that’s a style and brand that we’re trying to play,” said guard Devin Booker. “It was a good test for us.”

It was a symptom of a larger issue, which was Team USA’s offensive pace slowing. It was definitely a part of Germany’s game plan to drop the game’s tempo and make the Americans play more in the half court, where they lack chemistry in running offense at times. Other teams who see that game film will likely try to replicate it and it’s being addressed.

Part of the reason Kerr has decided on going with hockey-style substitutions, subbing in five new players at once, is to encourage players to play faster because they know they have reinforcements.

That will be something the team works on ahead of the meeting with Serbia, which is coming off an impressive win over Giannis Antetokounmpo and Greece in their last pre-Olympics friendly.

“I hated our pace against Germany. We were just walking the ball up the floor. The tape was tough to watch,” Kerr said. “So we know we’ve got to play a lot better at both ends and I’m confident that we will. But we have to make some adjustments, both strategic and emotional.”