Kevin Durant takes all that fretting over his status and stuffs it in the hoop

VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, FRANCE — If ever there was a play that should make Kevin Durant’s basketball soul smile, and which perfectly captured his peerless legacy within the Team USA national program, it was that thing of beauty at the end of the first half of their Olympic pool play blowout against Serbia on Sunday.

Steve Kerr, the Golden State Warriors coach whose imperfect marriage with Durant a few years back yielded two titles and no shortage of tense times, drew up the set that they’d never run before during the break that took place with just three seconds left. Steph Curry, his former Warriors running mate whose shadow was so impossible to avoid during their time together from 2016 to 2019, set the screen on the baseline that broke Durant free on the right side. And LeBron James, the fellow great with whom Durant spent so much of his career being impossibly compared to, fired the perfect pass from the right sideline that sparked the classic KD moment.

Catch. Turn. Falling jumper with the vintage leg kick. Bucket and a nine-point lead at the break.

It was just one of his eight shots that fell in a brilliant 23-point performance, one that took him fewer than 17 minutes in the Americans’ 110-84 win and included just one late and irrelevant miss from the field that spoiled his near-perfect night, but it was the prettiest and most layered of them all. Especially considering the uncertainty that surrounded him coming in.

It had been almost three months since Durant last played in a real game, with the calf injury that kept him out of training camp and five “friendly” games taking a week longer than expected to heal and Kerr deciding to bring him off the bench in his debut, and here was the program’s all-time leading scorer and four-time gold medalist (three in the Olympics) reminding everyone that he is the GOAT in these parts. Better yet, the ones with whom he shares so much complicated history in NBA circles were seemingly ecstatic to support and serve his talents in the name of USAB success. And make no mistake: Durant has no peers in this place.

Given how complicated the discussion about Durant always tends to be, there’s something wildly refreshing about seeing him in a space where the debate about his place in this program is so simple. He is USAB’s all-time leading scorer. He’s the one who already has three Olympic gold medals and can become the only American men’s basketball player to win four if Team USA gets the job done here. He’s the one who has been so loyal — yes, loyal — to this operation by choosing to play in the last four Olympics while winning gold every time he has signed up (including the 2010 FIBA World Cup).

In terms of USAB legacy, no one compares. And the best part, the thing that makes you admire the spirit with which this group goes about its business, is that everyone who is part of this seems to know it. James included.

But this latest USAB memory was special in its own right, as Kerr’s decision to bring Durant off the bench could have caused Durant to feel some type of way heading into his return. Instead, with Kerr starting James, Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Joel Embiid, Durant told Kerr before the game that he was there to serve in whatever role was deemed necessary. And then, true to his word, he proceeded to save the Americans after a rough start against this Nikola Jokić-led Serbia team that is considered a medal contender after taking silver in last year’s FIBA World Cup.

Team USA was down 19-14 when Durant entered for the first time with 2:33 left in the first quarter, and he waited all of 14 seconds before burying a 3-pointer. He hit another 3 fewer than two minutes later, all part of a 23-10 finish to the quarter after Serbia led 10-2 early. He poured it on in the second quarter, finishing with 21 of his 23 points at halftime.

“I’ve (come off the bench) a couple of times in the NBA — three times,” Durant said. “That’s enough for me to just kind of lean on those times. You know, that’s what I thought about as I was coming in, just staying ready mentally, staying focused on what the game plan is. And when I come in, don’t make the game about myself. Try to add to the team. And tonight I was able to (do that).”

“I told Coach (Kerr), whatever he needs from me, I’m willing to do anything and adapt to anything. So it’s always been fun trying to figure out new roles and just adapt to whatever the game tells you to do.”

Lest anyone forgot, Kerr had spent a significant amount of time recently publicly expressing disappointment in Team USA’s play.

“It’s time,” he had declared last week.

It all became so much easier, though, with the willing and able Durant there to turn the tide.

Regardless of what comes next, it’s quite a thing that Kerr left open the possibility of Durant becoming a super Sixth Man for this loaded squad going forward. He was given multiple chances to knock that idea down afterward, but opted against it.

“I mean, we’re just taking it one step at a time,” said Kerr, whose team plays South Sudan in a second pool play game on Wednesday. “Obviously, he was great tonight. We wanted to limit his minutes and just ease him back in. And I eased him in, (but) he didn’t ease himself back in. He was brilliant.”

When asked again about the prospect of Durant continuing to come off the bench, Kerr demurred.

“I don’t know; I don’t know,” he said. “Yeah, we’ll see.”

Yet after the Durant performance they’d all just seen, that question didn’t need an answer just yet. This, it seemed, was a time for all of them to marvel at the man whose USAB resume continues to grow.

“He’s so used to the stage,” said Curry, who is playing in his first Olympics. “He’s the all-time leading scorer in USAB history for a reason, so it was great to see.”

Added James, who is playing in his fourth Olympics (two gold and one bronze previously) and his first since 2012 in London: “KD was phenomenal … If you watch him in practice, everything that he does in practice is game speed, so it’s no surprise that he comes out and gets right to it. But it’s great to have him on your side. … At the end of the day, you’re not surprised. I mean, he’s just an out-of-this-world talent.”

And Kerr, who is in his first Olympics as Team USA’s head coach: “(Durant) just looked like he was in midseason form, but after not playing in a real basketball game for a couple of months — pretty incredible.”

Just like they all drew it up.

(Top photo of Kevin Durant: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)