Kevin Durant returns to US lineup, scores 23 points on near-perfect shooting to lead win over Serbia

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — Kevin Durant is back. And in his debut with the U.S. Olympic team this summer, he didn’t miss a beat at the Paris Games.

Didn’t miss much of anything, in fact.

Durant — the all-time leading scorer in U.S. men’s Olympic history — scored 23 points on 8-for-9 shooting in just under 17 minutes of action Sunday, helping the Americans roll past Serbia 110-84 in the Olympic opener for both teams. It was Durant’s debut this summer after spending about a month dealing with a calf strain, one that occasionally had him worried that he’d miss the Paris Games.

“I eased him in,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “He didn’t ease himself in.”

Not one bit. Durant had five 3-pointers in the first half, and a fadeaway at the buzzer as he fell to the floor gave the U.S. a 58-49 lead going to the locker room. He missed his only shot from the floor in the second half, but the U.S. defense had taken over at that point and turned the game into a runaway.

“Oh, man,” Durant said of the one shot he missed. “Felt good leaving my hand. I definitely wanted to finish the game perfect.”

Close enough.

Durant was the fifth sub off the U.S. bench — the 10th man, essentially — on Sunday. It marked the fourth time in his last 1,320 games that he wasn’t a starter, that span covering his one year of college ball at Texas, his 16 NBA seasons including playoffs and 53 previous games with the U.S. men’s senior national team.

“We’re talking about Kevin Durant as a sixth man,” U.S. guard Stephen Curry said. “That tells you how good this team can be.”

And Durant made coming off the bench look easy. Even at halftime, the reactions on the social media site X were pouring in with high praise:

— “Just get KD the ball, pretty simple,” Sacramento Kings guard Kevin Huerter wrote.

— “KD ridiculous,” Rhode Island women’s basketball associate head coach Ali Jaques wrote.

— Added Rich Kleiman, Durant’s longtime business partner: “easy money!! what we talking about??!!!”

His teammates only added to the list of marveling after the game.

“He was excellent,” U.S. guard Devin Booker said. “Actually, no, he missed a shot. I don’t know what the (expletive) is wrong with him. It’s good to have him back out there. We’ve been seeing him grind. We’ve been seeing him work.”

Durant has been doing some post-practice work — including a traditional Miami Heat drill session — with U.S. center Bam Adebayo, the Heat captain and one of the best defenders in the NBA.

“If I’m making your shot difficult, against anybody else, it should be easy,” Adebayo said.

“He’s right,” Durant said.

USA Basketball made the announcement that Durant would be available to play about an hour before the game. He missed all five of the team’s pre-Olympic exhibitions with the calf strain, which happened a few days before the team convened in Las Vegas for training camp in early July.

“There’s days where I had good days and then I had a little setback,” Durant said. “I was nervous a little bit. The trainers calmed me down a lot, let me know what I was going through and I’m glad I was able to get through it.”

Durant is bidding to become the first four-time Olympic men’s basketball gold medalist. The all-time U.S. men’s leader in Olympic scoring was on the teams that won titles at the London Games in 2012, the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 and the Tokyo Games held three years ago.

Durant returned to full-fledged practice last week. By Friday, his teammates knew he was good to go. By Sunday, everyone else saw it.

“Nothing he does is surprising,” Curry said. “To shoot perfect in the first half — he had 21 or something like that? — is special. He’s so used to this stage and he’s the all-time leading scorer in USAB history for a reason.”

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games