Kevin Durant Is Expected To Miss Team USA’s Olympic Opener Against Serbia With His Calf Strain

The USA men’s basketball team has been playing with an 11-man roster during the exhibition slate as they’ve been trying to buy Kevin Durant as much time as possible to recover from a calf strain. However, the past two weeks have apparently not been enough to get KD on the court for the Olympics opener this weekend against Nikola Jokic and a tough Serbia team, as Brian Windhorst reported on Tuesday that Durant met with Steve Kerr and it was decided he’ll sit for a bit longer.

As Windy notes, Kerr was Durant’s coach in 2019 when the star forward came back from a calf strain early and tore his Achilles in the NBA Finals. While Durant insists that isn’t influencing his approach to returning from this strain, it’s hard not to believe it’s leading Kerr and Team USA to err on the side of caution when it comes to bringing him back.

Windhorst also says there will not be a second replacement player joining the roster after Derrick White stepped in after Kawhi Leonard’s departure, and Durant will continue to be on the roster with the plan being for him to play at some point. In the meantime, Team USA will need to shake off a couple rocky performances against South Sudan and Germany to close their showcase slate as they face what should be their toughest game of the group stage against Serbia on Sunday, July 28 (11:15 a.m. ET).