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| Durant no longer on Team USA's roster. Photo Credit: Getty Images |
Thursday evening news broke that Durant will be pulling from the USA team and will not compete in the FIBA World Cup saying he was mentally and physically exhausted.
By: Niqko Marshall
It came as a shock because Durant had been a firm participant in the USA basketball training camp. He issued a statement saying:
"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."
No one can fault Durant for pulling out because he wants to be prepared for next season, but there could be some other things underlying his decision to step away. One of those reasons could be the Paul George injury, witnessing that injury was pretty traumatic and that could have left a funny feeling with Durant to say to himself he didn’t want to risk injury for the upcoming season.
Another reason could be Durant being link to a controversy over a shoe deal. His current contract with Nike has recently ended and Under Armour is going all in for Durant reportedly offering a 10 year $325 million dollar deal also offering him equity. Under Armour headquarters is located in Maryland which is the area Durant is from.
Many people feel like if he signs that will further hint that he could go back home and play for the Washington Wizards in 2016. Maybe Durant didn’t want to deal with the scrutiny that would come from that situation and decided to pull away from Team USA and just focus on being prepared and ready for the upcoming new season for the Thunder when fall arrives.
With the Durant withdrawing the USA team they added Sacramento Kings Forward Rudy Gay. Gay will still have to earn his spot on the 12 man roster but his recent experience with USA in 2010 should help him.This experience also will benefit Gay in that he can improve his own skills by going up against some great competition for that roster spot. In the long term if he makes the team or not, he will be an even a better player for going through this , especially when the new NBA season kicks off for him and the Kings. 