LAS VEGAS (AP)
— USA Basketball didn’t blow up Kevin Durant’s phone with repeated
calls to beg and plead for him to play in the Tokyo Olympics. It
was a much more dignified process: They asked, then they
waited.
It was the
right move.
“They helped me
make the decision by letting me be me,” Durant said.
Already an
owner of two Olympic gold medals, Durant ultimately chose to try
for three. The Brooklyn Nets forward will lead the U.S. Olympic
team into Tokyo this month and could become just the second men’s
player in USA Basketball history to win three golds, joining
Carmelo Anthony.
And not that
this matters to Durant, because it doesn’t, but he could simply
rewrite the USA Basketball Olympic record book in the next few
weeks as well.
“I committed to
USA Basketball when I was coming out of college, and every chance
that I get that I’m healthy and my mind’s in the right place to
play basketball, I go out there and play,” Durant said. “I finished
the year off healthy, regular season and playoffs. So, I felt like
it’d be cool to get I guess a kickstart on next season by getting
in shape a lot earlier in the summer with Team USA.”
Already the top
three-point shooter in U.S. men’s Olympic history, Durant is 25
points shy of tying Anthony (336) for the most in team Olympic
play, 39 rebounds away from Anthony’s mark in rebounds (125), 12
away from Anthony’s mark in field goals made (113), three away from
Anthony’s mark in free throws made (53).
“You know his
famous quote? ‘I am Kevin Durant.’ There’s nothing changing,” U.S.
guard Bradley Beal of the Washington Wizards said. “We know who he
is. We know what he’s capable of doing and he’s doing the same
thing in practice... and his leadership is just terrific. He’s,
like, 39-0 in USA Basketball. That’s crazy and we want to keep that
going.”
Beal had it
right: Durant is 39-0 in major international events with USA
Basketball. He has two NBA championships, two NBA Finals MVP
awards. He came back after a yearlong layoff from an Achilles
injury this season in Brooklyn and was, again, his typical
unguardable self.
There’s long
been nothing left for him to prove, and he signed up for another
Olympics anyway. Camp started Tuesday and Durant immediately began
setting the tone for a roster that is mostly composed of first-time
Olympians other than Durant, Draymond Green and Kevin Love.
“There’s this
very cliche line that everyone uses in basketball when you’re
working out: Go game speed every rep,” said Green, Durant’s former
Golden State teammate. “Quite frankly, I’ve never seen anyone do
it, except him. That’s how he plays the game. That’s how he works.
You’re talking about a guy who would sit at home, sit in his house
and watch an elementary-school basketball game just to watch
basketball. Really, really loves the game, loves watching the game,
loves hooping.”
All that is
true, and part of the lure for Durant to play this summer.
U.S. coach
Gregg Popovich was another major factor. It’s no secret that
players around the league hold the longtime San Antonio coach in
the highest regard, and Durant said the opportunity to play for the
five-time NBA champion factored into his thinking.
“If he had said
no, I would have begged, cried, done anything I could to change his
mind,” Popovich said. “That’s pretty obvious. But what it says
about him, No. 1, is he loves the game. He really loves to play
basketball. He loves to win. He loves the camaraderie. He wants to
be part of this, all the time, as we all know. And that’s his
motivation. At the core, that’s what he loves to do and luckily for
all of us, that’s who he is.”
Mike Brown was
part of Golden State’s coaching staff when Durant was with the
Warriors. Brown is also the coach of the Nigerian Olympic team,
meaning he will be coaching against Durant — and his current boss,
U.S. assistant coach and Golden State head coach Steve Kerr — when
the Americans play the top African team in their first exhibition
of this summer’s stay in Las Vegas on Saturday night.
Like everyone
else in the NBA, Brown only raves about Durant.
“A lot of
people see his scoring prowess,” Brown said. “Obviously, he can
shoot the three, he can post up, his medium game is the best in the
business. But when he came to the Warriors, I was shocked by two
things. The biggest thing was just his feel and intelligence on the
defensive end of the floor... and then on top of that, he’s a
phenomenal passer.”
Put simply, he
can do it all. That’s been obvious forever. And a third gold medal
would only enhance that already-lofty legacy of his.
“I look forward
to just being around the best players in the world, and around the
best athletes as well,” Durant said.
SATURDAY GAME
The U.S. will
call up some players from the USA Select Team, which was ending its
practice schedule in Las Vegas on Friday, to fill out its roster
for exhibitions — starting with the game Saturday against Nigeria,
Popovich said.
The U.S. is
missing Olympians Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday
because of the NBA Finals. San Antonio's Keldon Johnson,
Cleveland's Darius Garland and Detroit’s Saddiq Bey are reportedly
the three players who were called up to replace them.
CURRY
PASSES
Golden State’s
Stephen Curry is playing in Nevada this weekend — golf, not
basketball. He’s participating in the American Century Championship
in Lake Tahoe, explaining there why he decided not to play for the
Olympic team.
“I do value the
offseason, and I’m working back on the court, but to try to go and
play and there’s just a lot that could happen,” Curry said. “I
respect every single guy that goes and plays that’s out there in
Vegas and I wish them all the success and a gold medal to show for
it and whatnot. It just wasn’t right for me. And I’m very confident
in that decision. No regrets at all.”