Just when you thought Team USA couldn’t get any better, Kevin Durant‘s return to practice forces you to think again. After missing 3 games through calf soreness, the veteran made inroads to the hardboard on Friday. With two more games to go before the team heads to Paris, the scene of the Slim Reaper practicing alongside his teammates is a morale boost for the USA fans.

The fans were pumped to see KD back in action and LeBron James shares the same feeling. KD’s addition to the list of available players might give Steve Kerr a headache in selecting the starting 5, but LeBron is not concerned about that. Rather, he looked into what the Suns forward brought to the table. “More firepower, more leadership, more experience in the FIBA game,” James said, when asked what Durant would bring to the Team USA lineup. “We welcome his return. We’re looking forward to him getting back out there and it just keeps us as strong as we can be.”

Despite his return, Kevin Durant is probably less than 100%, but it is dangerous for the opponents, nonetheless. “It’s one of those things you just got to monitor every day and see how I feel after I do certain movements and certain exercises,” Durant said about his fitness. “But my thing is just keep grinding and see what happens.”

Steve Kerr also has a similar thing going through his mind. When asked about KD’s condition, the HC said, “I would love for him to play in a game, but we have to take it day by day.” In KD’s absence, Jayson Tatum and Devin Booker, both had a run in the previous 3 games. Now, with the 14-time NBA All-Star back in contention, Tatum might have to head to the bench.

Predicting Team USA’s line-up with a fit Kevin Durant

So far only Steph Curry, LeBron, and Joel Embiid have started all 3 games in the exhibition string and the trio is likely to be a constant feature in the USA set-up in the Olympics too. “Yeah, I like those three guys in the starting lineup. We’ve been looking at other guys around them and we obviously do have great options, but I like those three guys together,” Kerr confirmed.

So we’ve 9 players vying for the other 2 spots, which is some competition. Now with KD back, he might be the fourth player to be the nailed-on name on the team sheet. But given the roulette Kerr likes to play with his sides, especially seen with the Warriors over the years, the line-ups might change on a situational basis to counter a particular threat.

Many criticized Embiid’s performance, but he had a nullifying effect on Nikola Jokic in the Serbia game. Similarly, in the games where Team USA would seek to go gung-ho from the get-go, Anthony Edwards might be the choice. Expecting the rest to be rotation options, the starting five against the Sudan game might be Curry, James, Embiid, Tatum, and Edwards. KD is expected to be rested for the game, but things could change in the next 24 hours.

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