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

Kevin Durant made his return to Staff USA for Sunday’s Olympic opener in opposition to Serbia on the Paris Video games and confirmed what the Individuals have been lacking with him out.

Durant entered the sport within the first quarter and made his first shot try, a 3-pointer, then went on to have an ideal capturing half, going 8-for-8 from the sector (5-for-5 from 3) to guide all scorers with 21 factors on the break.

USA Basketball introduced that Durant could be accessible to play about an hour earlier than the sport. Durant wasn’t within the beginning lineup after coach Steve Kerr indicated Saturday that the Phoenix Suns star would possibly come off the bench in his return.

Joel Embiid began for the U.S. after he missed follow Saturday with an sickness.

Durant missed all 5 of the staff’s pre-Olympic exhibitions with a calf pressure. He initially bought damage just a few days earlier than the staff convened in Las Vegas for coaching camp in early July and had returned to full follow final week.

He’s bidding to turn out to be the primary four-time Olympic males’s basketball gold medalist. The all-time U.S. males’s chief in Olympic scoring was on the groups that received titles on the London Video games in 2012, the Rio de Janeiro Video games in 2016 and the Tokyo Video games in 2021.

The Related Press contributed to this report.