In what was a likely scenario, Kevin Durant reportedly will return to Team USA for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil after withdrawing from USA Basketball shortly before the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain.
“Hopefully I’ll be there. It’s whoever Mr. [Jerry] Colangelo and Coach K [Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski] pick,” Durant said in an interview on his 26th birthday scheduled to air later this week on SportsCenter. “I would love to have the chance to play in another Olympics.”
Durant said again Monday that fatigue was his motivation for leaving Team USA before the World Cup, insisting that neither his shoe-contract negotiations with Nike and Under Armour nor Paul George’s injury prompted his withdrawal.
“I was tired,” Durant said. “I just wanted to have some time to just enjoy my summer and continue to work on my game but just enjoy my summer. Coach K and Mr. Colangelo understood and they made this whole thing easy for me.
“The thing I didn’t want to happen was for it to overshadow what those guys were doing because they deserved to be in their moment. I was so excited for them, especially the newer guys that hadn’t played in international competition before. It felt like four years ago when we were playing in 2010 and had all the young guys. That’s what their team looked like, so I was excited they got the W [in the tournament in Spain].”
It will also be an interesting summer for Durant who’ll be going through his first free agent sweepstakes as the headline act.