Kevin Durant continues his return to basketball after missing the 2020 NBA season due to an achilles heel injury and will be part of Team USA when they compete in the Olympics later this month in Tokyo. Durant continued to get healthy this year as he returned to the Brooklyn Nets and even made the playoffs before getting tossed in the second round by the Milwaukee Bucks. Durant spoke with The Athletic about joining Team USA instead of sitting back and resting during the off-season.
“Every chance that I can get that I’m healthy and my mind’s in the right place to play basketball, I’m going to go out there and play. Finished the year off healthy, the regular season and the playoffs, so I felt it would be cool to get, I guess, a kickstart on next season by getting in shape a little earlier in the summer with Team USA,” explained Durant.
Durant already has two Olympic gold medals under his belt after competing for the United States in 2012 and 2016. Durant led the Olympic team in scoring during both runs. He and Kobe Bryant also played together on the 2012 Olympic team, which went undefeated and won a gold medal over Spain in London. KD also remembered his late friend and discussed Bryant’s impact on Team USA.
“Kobe Bryant is the guy that all of us looked up to and watched as kids. And even when he was alive and playing, his DNA was embedded in us as players. From afar, [he] taught us what the game is about, what work ethic is about,” added Durant during an Olympic press conference supplied by “The Bleacher Report.”
“Guys that had close relationships understand how he [would] approach every single day, especially with Team USA. He really took pride in being a part of this group and part of this team. We all feed off of that type of energy, and Kobe always brought that, so he’s always big to everyone of us here. We miss him, we miss him dearly because he would be in here, supporting us,” Durant said.
Team USA is highly favored to take home the gold once again with a superstar line-up that also includes scorers like James Harden, Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum. The Olympic Games kick off on July 23 in Tokyo.
