LAS VEGAS — Kevin Durant has been bothered by a sore calf muscle that has kept him from taking part in the full USA Basketball training camp for the Paris Olympics, but he made it clear to team officials that he doesn't expect the issue to be a major problem.
“The situation is changing day by day,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “We're going to be very careful.”
Durant is the second forward not to be a full participant in the U.S. camp, which began its second day of on-court training on Sunday. Boston forward Jayson Tatum missed the first two days of training for personal reasons and is scheduled to take the court with his U.S. teammates for the first time on Monday.
It's unclear when Durant will be ready to play or whether Kerr plans to use him for the U.S.'s first exhibition game of the pre-Olympic season on Wednesday against Canada. The U.S. travels to Paris for a five-game series before opening its Olympic campaign against Serbia on July 28.
“I think he made an adjustment a couple of days before he got here,” Kerr said. “Not bad. He assures me it's not bad. We're just going to be really careful and smart and take it one day at a time and go from there.”
Durant has the potential to become the first player in men's Olympic basketball history to win a four-time gold medal this summer after helping the U.S. win gold medals in London in 2012, Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and Tokyo when the games were postponed three years ago. He has scored 435 points in the Olympics, 99 more than the all-time leader in U.S. men's basketball history, held by three-time gold medalist Carmelo Anthony.
