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Kevin Durant to miss Team USA exhibition vs. Canada due to calf strain: 'He said he's feeling pretty good'

Kevin Durant’s calf strain is considered minor, though it’s unclear when he’ll be able to return

ryan young
Staff writer
·2 min read
22

Kevin Durant still isn’t ready to run with Team USA.

Durant will miss the Americans’ scrimmage with Canada on Wednesday due to a calf strain, head coach Steve Kerr said Tuesday. Durant has yet to participate in any scrimmages or full-contact parts of practices with the group due to the injury.

"He's already doing plenty of things on the side, not with the team yet, but strengthening, treatment," Kerr said, via USA Basketball's Mike Hall. "He said he's feeling pretty good, so we'll just keep taking it day by day. It won't be long before he's out on the court with us, and we'll give you updates as we get them."

Durant entered training camp Saturday with the calf strain, though it’s not known what happened, and the team opted to hold him out of most things out of “an abundance of caution.” The injury is considered minor, and Durant revealed Tuesday that he hurt himself about 10 days before camp started.

“I think he tweaked it a few days before he got here,” Kerr said on Sunday. “It’s not bad. He’s assuring me that it’s not bad. We’re just going to be really careful and smart and take it day by day and go from there.”

Kevin Durant, Team USA’s all-time leading scorer, has yet to participate in training camp ahead of the Paris Olympics.
Kevin Durant, Team USA’s all-time leading scorer, has yet to participate in training camp ahead of the Paris Olympics. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Durant is Team USA’s all-time leading scorer, something he accomplished while winning a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. He has also won two other gold medals with Team USA, in London in 2012 and in Brazil in 2016. The third gold matched Carmelo Anthony’s record for an American man in basketball. Anthony was the previous all-time leading scorer.

It’s unclear when Durant will be cleared to return, but he said he hopes to participate in the next leg of training camp. After Wednesday’s scrimmage at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Team USA will fly to Abu Dhabi for a week, where it will take on Australia and Serbia in exhibition games.

After Abu Dhabi, Team USA will play South Sudan and Germany in exhibitions in London before traveling to Paris. Their first matchup in the Olympics, against Serbia, is scheduled for July 28.