Team USA’s 2016 Olympics future officially over with Kevin Durant’s withdrawal.
Two weeks ago before the official announcing of his trade to the Cleveland Cavaliers today, Kevin Love withdrew from Team USA Men’s National Basketball Team. With Paul George’s unfortunate season-ending injury last Friday, we were certain at least one superstar was going to join Love in the short list of players withdrawing from competitive international play.
USA Basketball National Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo revealed Kevin Durant’s withdrawal from play, effective immediately. The Oklahoma City Thunder small-forward noted being physically and mentally drained from the 2014 season.
This now puts the team extremely in jeopardy of not qualifying for the 2016 Olympics and will have a tough time during the FIBA World Cup later this month.
Read comments below from both Jerry Colangelo and Kevin Durant issued today.
“This was an extremely difficult decision as I take great pride in representing our country. I know that I owe it to my USA Basketball teammates to be totally invested in the experience. After going through training camp with USAB, I realized I could not fulfill my responsibilities to the team from both a time and energy standpoint. I need to take a step back and take some time away, both mentally and physically in order to prepare for the upcoming NBA season. I will be rooting for USAB and look forward to future opportunities with them.” – Kevin Durant
Kevin Durant has announced that he was withdrawing from participating with the 2014 USA National Team http://t.co/81flFXgJ1T #USABMNT
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) August 7, 2014
“Kevin reached out to Coach K and myself this afternoon and expressed that he is just physically and mentally drained from the NBA season and his attention to his many responsibilities. He tried to give it a go at our recent Las Vegas training camp but felt coming out of camp that he was not prepared to fulfill the commitment he made to the team. Coach K and I fully support Kevin. His well being is the most important thing to us and we support him taking the time to get ready for next season. He’s been part of the National Team program for eight years and a big part of the success we have achieved, and we look forward to him being part of our success in the future as well. We are excited about the opportunity ahead of us and to getting back to work in Chicago on Aug. 14. All 15 players are committed to the USA Basketball standard, which is to come together to win gold medals.” – USA Basketball National Team Managing Director Jerry Colangelo