Five reasons why Team USA should stick with Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant's calf injury has kept him out of all of Team USA's exhibition games ahead of the Paris Olympics. Still, head coach Steve Kerr has no plans to replace the 35-year-old forward. Here are five reasons why that's the right decision for the Olympic team.

1. Durant is a unicorn

In 2016, Durant called Kristaps Porzingis a "unicorn" because he was a 7-footer who could make three-pointers. But Durant himself is over seven-feet tall in shoes and he has made more threes than all but 18 players in NBA history. That's big for a Team USA squad that's been getting out-shot from behind the arc in their tune-up games, with Steph Curry providing the only reliable deep threat.

The presence of KD and his virtually-unblockable jumper is a huge weapon for an American team that often struggles to get buckets. The threat of his shot will keep defenses from committing too hard to stop Joel Embiid, LeBron James and Anthony Davis inside. Plus, Durant is tall enough to play center should Team USA want to go small.

2. He's the greatest American scorer in Olympic history

Durant has scored 435 points in his three Olympic appearances from 2012-2021, the most in the history of Team USA. He is tied for most gold medals with Carmelo Anthony, who won three golds (and a bronze medal in 2004), but KD surpassed Anthony's point total in the Tokyo Games. While Durant has no chance of catching all-time leading scorer Oscar Schmidt's staggering total of 1,093 Olympics points, he will almost certainly move into the all-time top 10 for Olympics points when all is said and done in Paris. Shouldn't the dominant USA basketball team have at least one player near the top of the leaderboard?

3. Commitment to international basketball goes both ways

There's plenty of NBA stars who have skipped international play in favor of rest or simply summer vacations. But Durant has played in three Olympics in a row and even played lesser tournaments, like the 2010 FIBA World Cup, where he won MVP. After Durant has devoted this many years to Team USA, the star veteran deserves a chance to get his calf right and stay on the roster.

4. There's no obvious replacement

When Kawhi Leonard was bounced from Team USA for looking slow and injured, officials already had Boston Celtics guard Derrick White waiting in the wings. White was the ideal choice because he can provide a similar level of perimeter defense to Leonard. Plus, because he is not an All-Star, Kerr can cut his minutes without any hard feelings.

Team USA can replace Durant before Friday, but there's not an obvious substitute for him. It feels like Jaylen Brown burned his bridges with the team when he complained about being snubbed for White while blaming Nike for the decision. There's Paolo Banchero, but Team USA doesn't need another big man who lacks a three-point shot. They might almost prefer to opt for a specialist like Miami's Duncan Robinson, a tall three-point threat, rather than trying to shoehorn in another All-Star days before Paris.

5. They already have 10 All-Stars

Team USA is extremely talented even without Durant. Should his calf injury keep him off the court, the adjustment would likely be to simply give more minutes to Jayson Tatum and Devin Booker. It's already difficult enough to distribute minutes for all these stars in a 40-minute international game. Based on the exhibition games played so far, Tyrese Haliburton and White might see limited minutes in close games and even Kerr's hockey-style five-man substitutions only call for 10 players.

Having Durant is a huge bonus, with unique skills and talents that no replacement can come close to matching. Without him, there's really no one Team USA can add who is a better option than simply giving more minutes to Tatum, Booker and Anthony Edwards or letting Steph Curry take a couple more threes.

Plus, Durant deserves it. After 14 years and three Olympics, KD has earned the right to nurse a calf injury for a few more days. And then begin his quest to collect a record fourth gold medal.