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There is hope that Kevin Durant plays for the U.S. in its Olympic opener against Serbia on Sunday, which means the men’s national team may have 12 players available for the first time this summer.
That is, unless something else happens.
The Americans open their path toward what they hope is a fifth consecutive Olympic gold medal when they take on three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic and World Cup finalist Serbia in the opener for both teams at the Paris Games. Durant missed all five exhibition games the Team USA played coming into Paris because of a calf strain, and coach Steve Kerr stopped short of definitively saying Saturday that he is in the lineup for the opener.
“Hopefully,” Kerr said.
Durant was on the floor for practice, while presumed starting center Joel Embiid was not because of illness. Kerr said he didn’t expect Embiid to miss Sunday’s game.
“I’m confident we’ll have everybody ready tomorrow,” Kerr said.
There have been signs in recent days that USA Basketball expects Durant — a three-time gold medalist, now bidding to become the first player who can say he’s a four-time Olympic men’s basketball champion — will be ready to go. First, it didn’t replace him on the roster. Second, it released clips of a Thursday scrimmage where Durant was active and even had a reverse dunk (plus got dunked on by Anthony Edwards, who idolizes him). And third, Kerr insisted earlier in the week that he wasn’t concerned about Durant’s status.
