Kevin Durant Has Returned To Team USA, Which Means The Rest Of The World Is About To Experience Hell On Earth
Brian Babineau. Getty Images.Given all the talent on Team USA and how dominant they've looked at times during these tune up games, you almost forget what was waiting on the sidelines. You know, only the greatest scorer in US Olympic history. And while this may have been more of a formality announcement by Shams, it's still nice to hear because you never truly know with strained calf injuries, especially when that player in Kevin Durant. Remember, that's what ultimately led to his popped Achilles a few years ago, so while I'm sure in reality the injury was minor there should always be a concern with calf injuries.
But now that he's cleared and slated to make his return? Talk about an embarrassment of riches. The rest of the world was already going to be climbing an uphill battle when it came to taking down Team USA, and that was without Kevin Durant. But with him in the mix? Good lord
Yes Kevin, we do. And soon enough the rest of the world will be reminded of what's coming
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The question now becomes what does Steve Kerr do with the starting lineup now that KD is involved. The other day it made it clear that he's pretty set in stone in terms of starting LeBron/Steph/Embiid
and I have to imagine KD is also a lock, which leaves that final spot open. In my opinion, it really comes down to two guys
1. Jayson Tatum
2. Anthony Edwards
If we're talking about the 5 best players (while accepting Embiid is in the mix), it's probably Steph/Tatum/KD/LeBron/Embiid. That's a fairly big starting five, and it gives you everything. You have defense, you have shooting, you have size, you have versatility etc.
If you swap Ant for Tatum and roll with Steph/Ant/KD/LeBron/Embiid you have somewhat of a more traditional lineup, and that then allows Tatum to be more of an offensive focus on the second unit with Holiday/Booker/Bam/AD. My main thought there is Ant is showing to be way more of a shoot-first type player, so maybe that plays better with the second unit, while Tatum has shown the willingness to be more of a connector with the starters.
Aside from the lineups, what I'm most excited for is to see KD back with Steph. While everyone may have hated that shit when it was dominating the NBA and beating all our favorite teams, now that we're all on the same team this time around I cannot wait to see how the rest of the world reacts to it. The only difference of course is now the other Avengers are in the mix as well. That has to be so defeating for these other countries before you even step on the court. It's not a super team, it's a true super-duper team.
Given these guys are all on the back 9 of their careers who knows how many moments like this we have left, so I say cherish it.
In a way, these Olympics are a sendoff for this era of basketball legends, and even though we've known about this roster for months now there is still something pretty fucking crazy about Steph/KD/LeBron all being on the same team. It's a 2K roster only in real life, and I cannot wait to see what they look like now ith KD in the mix. Team USA was already unguardable, and they just added arguably one of the most unguardable players in the history of the sport. Seems pretty good in my opinion.