Kevin Durant comes off bench in U.S. Olympic opener vs. Serbia

Kevin Durant made his first shot attempt, a three-pointer on the first game of his stay with Team USA for Sunday’s Olympic opener against Serbia.

July 28, 2024, 02:31 07:31

July 28 2024, 10:31 am ET

Kevin Durant made his return to Team USA for Sunday’s Olympic opener against Serbia at the Paris Games and demonstrated what the Americans were missing when he was out.

Durant started the game in the opening quarter and hit his first shot which was a three-pointer. He followed it up with a flawless shooting half shooting 8-for-8 from his field (5-for-5 in 3) to the top of the scoring with 21 points by the break.

USA Basketball announced that Durant was available for play approximately an hour prior to the game. Durant was not in the starting lineup following the coach Steve Kerr indicated Saturday that Durant Phoenix Suns star could be on the bench when he returns.

Joel Embiid began his debut with his team in the U.S. after he missed the practice on Saturday due to an illness.

Durant has missed five competitions prior to the Olympics due to the strain to his calf. The injury occurred couple of days prior to the time when the team met at Las Vegas for training camp in the beginning of July. He returned to full training this week.

He’s hoping for the record of being the only four-time Olympic Basketball gold medallist. All-time U.S. men’s leader in Olympic scoring was part of the teams that claimed gold during the London Games in 2012, the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 and the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Associated Press contributed to this report.