Kevin Durant came off the bench in all three of the United States’ games during group play at the 2024 Olympics in Lille, and he’ll continue to do so in the knockout round in Paris. During a conference call on Sunday, Team USA coach Steve Kerr told reporters that the team has “found a good grove” with Durant in the second unit, so he’ll stick with it against Brazil in the quarterfinals on Tuesday.
Durant missed all five of the United States’ exhibition games leading up to the Olympics because of a hamstring injury. Durant played 17 near-perfect minutes off the bench in the opener against Serbia last Sunday, 22 minutes against South Sudan on Wednesday and 19 minutes against Puerto Rico on Saturday.
“I think if Kevin had been here from Day 1, chances are he would be starting,” Kerr told reporters. “That was the plan coming in, but, given that he missed all of our friendlies and came in late, we had kind of established a lineup that we liked. And when we brought him back, he was only going to play a certain amount of minutes against Serbia, and he played so well and he fit so well with that group.”
Immediately, the unit of Durant, Derrick White, Anthony Edwards, Bam Adebayo and Anthony Davis was “devastating,” Kerr said, so “there’s no plans on changing that. But of course, as the games get more difficult, my guess is Kevin will be playing more and more minutes. So he’ll keep coming off the bench for now, but we’ll lean on him more and more as we go.”
Kerr has not, so far, had to push anybody’s minutes, as Team USA led by at least 11 points for all 36 of their fourth-quarter minutes in the group stage. In Lille, Durant averaged 19.2 minutes per game, LeBron James averaged a team-high 21.8 minutes and nobody on the roster played more than 27 minutes in any single game. The competition will be tougher in Paris, though, and Kerr might have to adjust the rotation accordingly.
Durant, by the way, has shown no signs that he’s itching to start. “I told Coach, whatever he needs from me, I’m willing to do anything and adapt to anything,” he told reporters after the first game, according to ESPN. On Friday, he told reporters that he has embraced his bench role and expects it to stay the same for the rest of the Olympics.
“It’s basketball,” Durant said, via ESPN. “It really doesn’t matter who starts. It’s about really who finished the game, who put their impact on the game while they’re in the game. So I just try to do my best to impact it any way I can.”
One person who will be pleased by Kerr’s decision: Edwards. The 22-year-old star has repeatedly called Durant his favorite player of all time, and he is having the time of his life playing with Durant on the second unit.
“I love that he’s coming off the bench,” Edwards said after the South Sudan game, via The Athletic “I get to play with him, so I hope coach keeps bringing him off the bench. I get to pass it to him. He gets to pass it back. That’s probably one of my biggest dreams ever, so that’s dope.”
Team USA has tons of firepower no matter who is on the court, and the second unit has been particularly dominant defensively. With Durant, Adebayo and Davis in the frontcourt, they can switch everything without compromising their rim protection. After a staff meeting on Sunday, Kerr told reporters on the conference call that the whole team needs to prepare for Brazil to be physical, crash the offensive glass and try to get up lots of 3s. Brazil shot 17 for 28 from 3-point range against Japan on Wednesday.
“They’ve got a lot of really good shooters,” Kerr said, according to the Arizona Republic. “And they just play hard, they compete play after play. So we’ll have to be ready for their physicality and their shooting, and we need to be on edge and ready for them because they’re not going to back down.”
