Kevin Durant Withdraws From USA Basketball

Kevin Durant has decided not to participate in this summer’s FIBA World Cup games and has withdrawn himself from Team USA. KD’s reasoning had nothing to do with Paul George’s injury last week during a scrimmage in Las Vegas. The reality is simply that KD is tired, citing mental and physical fatigue.

“This was an extremely difficult decision as I take great pride in representing our country,” Durant said in a statement. “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.”

KD has been playing deep into the NBA season and every summer with Team USA for a few years. I don’t see anything wrong with letting some of the second tier stars get some shine. As long as it doesn’t end up like the ’06 World Cup where we took Bronze and were embarrassed.