Basketball fans want to know the latest Kevin Durant injury update and whether he will be able to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Durant suffered an injury several days before July 6, when Team USA was scheduled to practice at training camp in Las Vegas. The 35-year-old forward for the Phoenix Suns sat out all five exhibition games for Team USA in order for him to recover as quickly as possible. Here’s what happened to Kevin Durant and if he’s well enough to play at the Paris Olympic Games.
How did Kevin Durant get injured and hurt?
Durant suffered a calf sprain in early July and is carefully monitoring the injury as Team USA heads into its first Olympics game.
On July 19, Durant explained that he has seen “progress” on his recovery, according to the AP. He stated, “I’ll see how I feel after I do certain exercises. My thing is to keep running see what happens.”
Team USA head coach Steve Kerr said in at a press conference on July 22 that he has “no thought” about not bringing Durant to Paris. However, according to journalist Grant Afseth, the team would like to see Durant get through several practices before thinking about letting him play at the Olympics. There have been no plans yet to replace him with another player.
Durant is no stranger to lower body injuries. At the 2019 NBA Finals, he suffered a torn right Achilles that took him out of the entire 2019-20 season. He also had a left MCL sprain during the 2021-22 season and a right MCL sprain during the 2022-23 season.
Will Kevin Durant miss the Olympics?
Durant will not miss the Olympics according to the latest reports, but it’s unclear if he will be able to play.
In a July 24 video posted by FIBA on X, Durant is seen alongside Team USA. So he’s still on the roster for now.
However, on July 22 ESPN’s Brian Windhorst believed that “hopes are dim” that Durant’s injury will be healed enough for him to play against Serbia in Team USA’s first Olympic match-up on July 28. Assigned to Group C, Team USA also has games against South Sudan on July 31 and Puerto Rico on August 3.
The team fortunately won all of their exhibition matches without Durant and heads into the Olympics with a perfect 5-0 record. However, some of their victories were extremely close, with Team USA winning against Germany 92-88 and South Sudan 101-100.
Durant currently holds the record for the highest amount of career points for Team USA in Olympic history with 435 points.
