Kevin Durant will not play in the exhibition match between the USA and Canada.
Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kevin Durant will not be playing in Wednesday’s exhibition against Canada, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr confirmed on Tuesday.
The Athletic’s Joe Vardon and Sham Charania reported Sunday that Durant had a minor calf strain that would sideline him for the first few days of USA’s training camp.
Kerr told reporters that Durant is still completing much of his training regiment on the side and it will not be long until he is back on the floor.
“Just working through it, taking it day by day. See what happens tomorrow, just keep building,” Durant told reports in Las Vegas.
Durant is now working on getting into game-ready shape prior to Team USA’s first Olympic game against Serbia on July 28. The Serbian national team is headlined by three-time NBA MVP Nikola Jokic.
Durant enters his fourth Olympic basketball tournament as USA’s all-time leader in points (435) and points per game (19.6), sits at third in total rebounds (118) and blocks (16) and is fourth in assists (71).
Team USA’s Paris Olympics game schedule
Team USA will round out its ramp-up to Olympic competition with five exhibitions:
Canada (July 10)
Australia (July 15
Serbia (July 17)
South Sudan (July 20)
Germany (July 22)
The first three exhibitions will be shown on FS1 while the last two will be on Fox. Group stage, which consists of three games, will be broadcast on NBC.
From there, Team USA will take on Serbia (July 28), South Sudan (July 31) and Puerto Rico (Aug. 3) in the group phase of the Olympics.
