Colangelo hails return of USA great Durant to squad for Tokyo Olympics

COLORADO SPRINGS (United States) - USA Basketball National Team managing directorJerry Colangelo paid a stirring tribute on Monday to Kevin Durant after the announcement that the superstar had committed to playing at the Tokyo Olympics.

The two-time Olympic champion and MVP of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2010, Durant has just completed a tough season with the Brooklyn Nets, one that came up short of the NBA title, but he's eager to hit the hardwood in Japan.

Durant shot 55.6% from the field, 45.6% (26 of 57) from the arc, in the USA's nine wins in 2010

"He's always had this great enthusiasm for playing USA basketball, for playing the game of basketball," said Colangelo, the long-time managing director of the national team.

"He's been a real warrior. I love the guy as a player. I love the guy as a person. And the fact that he stepped up to commit himself didn't surprise me. I was very, very pleased because he's a very, very important part of our potential success."

When Durant arrived at the World Cup in Turkey 11 years ago he was a part of a national team that had none of the players from the Olympic gold medal-winning side of 2008. He torched opponents in Istanbul, averaging almost 23 points per game. Durant poured in 33, 38 and 28 points,  respectively, in the USA's last three wins over Russia, Lithuania and Turkey.

USA Team for the Tokyo Olympics
Bam Adebayo	Bradley Beal	Devin Booker	Kevin Durant	Jerami Grant
Draymond Green	Jrue Holiday	Zach Lavine	Damian Lilliard	Kevin Love
Khris Middleton	Jayson Tatum

When asked how playing for the Olympic team would help Durant's career in a conference call with the media, Colangelo answered bluntly: "I'm not sure anything's going to help him in his career next season that will come out of this experience.

"What it is, is a love for the game, and fulfilling a continuing dream of being on that court and playing for all the marbles and trying to get a gold medal. That's the competitiveness in him. So if you can raise his level of competitiveness anymore than what it is today, that's unbelievable. That's over the top. So I think it's more of him fulfilling his desire to play the game he loves as much as he does."

While Durant is the headliner, there are even more weapons on a team that will again be coached by Gregg Popovich.

Among them is Draymond Green, another gold medal winner from Rio de Janeiro five years ago.

Bradley Beal, the MVP of the FIBA U17 World Championship 2010 in Hamburg, Germany, and a big star in the NBA with the Washington Wizards since 2012, will make his long-awaited debut for the senior team at the Olympics. Beal averaged 31.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.4 assists per game in the regular season for Washington.

Khris Middleton led the USA with 15 points in a victory over Turkey at the FIBA Basketball World Cup in China

Another gold medal winner at the 2012 London Games for the USA, Kevin Love, will be with the Americans in Japan, as well as Olympic first-timers Zach LaVine, Jerami Grant, Bam Adebayo, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker.

"I’m happy for the selected players and looking forward to having the opportunity to work with this wonderful group when practice gets underway on July 6 in Las Vegas," said Popovich. "I’m excited to represent the United States in our quest to earn a gold medal in Tokyo."

The USA will play in Group A at the Olympics with France, Iran and the team that wins the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Victoria, Canada. Greece, China, Uruguay, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Canada are all taking part in that event, which tips off on June 29 and has the all-important Final on July 4.

The first game for the USA will be on July 25 in the Saitama Arena against the French, the national team that beat the Americans in the Quarter-Finals at the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2019 in China. Middleton and Tatum are the only players on the roster that played for the USA at the World Cup.

FIBA