Kevin Durant injury update, Anthony Edwards anoints himself as a '#1 option' and more: Team USA Olympics camp Exclusive
The US Men’s Olympic team hasn’t even played a full game yet. Yet the team already nursed an injury to a key player. Kevin Durant missed practices both on Saturday and Sunday because of what Team USA coach Steve Kerr called “calf soreness.”
Kerr said that Durant “tweaked it” shortly before Team USA’s training camp, but relayed that Durant told him that “it’s not bad.”
Nonetheless, Durant missed all of Team USA’s scrimmages that were open to the media during the last 30 minutes of a two-hour session. Durant sat on the bench during play, but he stood up during timeouts without showing any noticeable discomfort. Durant also completed individual shooting drills after practice ended.
It is unclear if Durant will practice on Monday and Tuesday before Wednesday's exhibition against Canada at T-Mobile Arena.
“Day-to-day,” Kerr said about Durant. “We’re just going to show an abundance of caution.”
Team USA guard Stephen Curry also showed some discomfort in his right hand toward the end of scrimmage. Both Kerr and Curry insisted not to worry.
“I had a little blood going on,” Curry said while holding the microphone with his right hand.
What is Team USA's pecking order?
Anthony Edwards sliced through the usual rhetoric from Team USA coaches and players about embracing a limited role for the sake of helping them win a gold medal.
“I’m still the No. 1 option. Ya’ll might look at it differently. But I don’t look at it differently,” Edwards said. “I just go out there and be myself. I shoot my shots and play defense. They’ve got to fit in to play around me. That’s how I feel.”
What should we make of Edwards’ statements? They likely just highlight his confidence rather than foreshadow any concern about how he would adjust his role on a star-studded roster.
Edwards gushed about learning from Durant, Curry and LeBron James. He also supported Kerr’s repeated messages about embracing evolving roles and potentially healthy scratches.
“They mentioned some guys you might not play some games, might not play that many minutes,” Edwards said. “I don’t mind. I’m playing alongside Hall-of-Famers.”
Interesting observations from Day 2 of scrimmages
Kerr forewarned not to read into any roster combinations both during scrimmages and exhibition play. Still, it’s fun to see how arguably the best Olympic team in the Dream Team blends together.
Kerr featured LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Bam Adebayo, Tyrese Haliburton and Edwards with one group against the U.S. Select team. That combination gave Team USA a lot of frontcourt depth and enabled Davis to play at power forward instead of center.
Kerr also featured a small lineup featuring Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, Kawhi Leonard and Joel Embiid. During this scrimmage, Embiid hilariously tried to hunt for foul shots. In a scrimmage! Fans took notice.
Overall, Kerr described the practice as “rusty” and that all roster combinations struggled on the offensive glass.
“That’s going to be a point of emphasis for us,” Kerr said. “All of these international teams are going to try to be really physical and gain extra possessions by crashing the boards. We have to do a better job in that area. All in all, it’s just a really good first two days of getting our feet underneath us and getting to know each other and finding a groove. I’m very happy with the first two days.”
Mark Medina is an NBA insider for Sportskeeda. Follow him on X, Instagram, Facebook and Threads.