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'Locked-in' Team USA settles into France for start of Olympics

debutPublished inNBA 2025-01-23 13:26

Kevin Durant says the calf injury that sidelined him for five Team USA exhibition games is improving.

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PARIS — There are signs and banners in several places, big, bold and colorful, acknowledging the biggest basketball attraction in a city that can’t wait until tipoff to experience the enormity of it all.

But enough about Victor Wembanyama.

Team USA took its first practice here Thursday, coincidently in the gym at the Palais des sports Marcel-Cerdan, which gave birth to Wembanyama, the French sensation who also plays for the San Antonio Spurs.

But two days before the Americans open against Serbia, there’s still no clarity on Kevin Durant and his calf strain and when he’ll finally put on a jersey.

Durant has practiced four times but didn’t play in any of the five exhibition games. Coach Steve Kerr said the status of the greatest Olympic scorer in U.S. history remains fluid.

“There are no expectations other than he’s supposed to practice, we’ll scrimmage, then take it day by day,” Kerr said.

The 🇺🇸 #USABMNT arrives to USA Basketball headquarters in 📍 Paris! pic.twitter.com/5t27jHCxO0

— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 24, 2024

Durant said he felt fresh, and again, this isn’t a Kawhi Leonard situation. Durant feels good enough to remain on the team and play at some point.

“Each day is getting better,” Durant said. “Another intense practice and we’ll see how it feels.”

With Durant iffy, Kerr will likely stick with the starting five he had through most of the exhibition games, barring a last-minute change: Stephen Curry, LeBron James, Joel Embiid, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker.

“We’re not traveling around anymore,” Kerr said. “We’re here. We got six games. We get through pool play, advance, then it’s the NCAA tournament.”

The USA had tense moments against South Sudan and Germany and Kerr said he believed those lapses won’t follow the team to the Olympics.

“We need 40 minutes of forced attention and focus,” Kerr said. “We can’t let teams outplay us, effort and energy wise, as we did.”

The pool play will take place in Lille, the fourth-most populated city in France, in Pierre Mauroy Stadium (which was built for soccer but has a retractable roof). The site was chosen, in part, because Paris has only one arena capable of housing the basketball games; Bercy will host gymnastics next week.

When the location was announced two years ago, FIBA, the national governing body for basketball, voiced complaints, as did NBA commissioner Adam Silver. Lille is two hours from Paris, near the Belgium border, inconvenient for such a popular Olympic sport.

Because of the logistics, Team USA will travel back and forth for three games by train, in a private car, and keep its hotel in Paris. The following week, the medal round will shift to Paris for games.

So in that sense, the team — which played in Abu Dhabi and London — is still moving.

Asked which country he’s most looking forward to playing, Curry said: “Whoever’s in the gold medal game.”

The mindset is right for a team that once again projects as dominant.

“We have another level we can get to,” Kerr said. “It’s time to lock in, that’s for all of us, coaches and players, to get to that point, mentally, strategically.”

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Shaun Powell has covered the NBA for more than 25 years. You can e-mail him here, find his archive here and follow him on X.

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