Team USA will be without a major weapon for Olympic warm-up vs. Canada
Team USA will be playing against Team Canada on Wednesday night in its first of five exhibition games ahead of the Paris Olympics. The two teams feature some of the best players across the NBA. However, Team USA's side will be down a major weapon.
That weapon is Kevin Durant, the three-time gold medalist and four-time FIBA gold medalist, who is out for Wednesday night's game due to a calf strain that has kept Durant out of the entirety of the national teams training camp in Las Vegas.
Durant has dealt with plenty of leg injuries over his career, but more recently in his past few years in the NBA. The almost 36-year-old missed the entire 2019-20 season with a torn right Achilles he suffered in the 2019 NBA Finals. Since then, he has played totals of 35, 55, and 47 games over the next three seasons.
This past season however, he played 75 games for the Phoenix Suns, where he averaged 27.1 points, 6.6 rebounds, and 5.0 assists.
Most importantly, Durant is Team USA's all-time leading scorer. He did so while winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
Kevin Durant out vs. Canada but there's no long term concern
"I feel better," Durant said after Tuesday's practice at UNLV to ESPN. "I was working out probably about 10 days before training camp [when I got hurt]. So, just working through it and taking it day by day."
Durant said he "hoped" to be back on the court for the Abu Dhabi portion of the exhibition schedule, which includes games against Australia on July 15 and Serbia on July 17.
The game against Canada won't be a walk in the park for the USA. This is going to be the first game between the two teams since Canada beat Team USA in the bronze medal game in last year's FIBA World Cup.
Durant entered training camp with a calf strain, but the team held him out of most activities to be cautious. While the injury is considered minor, Durant revealed Tuesday that he hurt himself about 10 days before the camp started on Saturday.