By TIM REYNOLDS, AP Basketball Writer
VILLENEUVE-D’ASCQ, France (AP) — And now, the real work begins for the U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team.
The four-time defending gold medalists arrived in France on Wednesday to begin their final preparations for the Paris Games. Their train from London arrived in their early afternoon, a couple of hours before the team held a photo shoot and acclimation practice at the arena where it will play its three group-stage games starting Sunday with a matchup against Serbia.
“We had a really good 45 minutes of getting up and down,” U.S. coach Steve Kerr said. “Not scrimmaging, but a lot of running and shooting. And then, some prep for Serbia as well.”
The big news of Day 1 in France: Phoenix Suns forward Kevin Durant practiced. The three-time Olympic gold medalist, who hasn’t played yet for the Americans this summer, was a full participant in practice, Kerr said. That’s a good sign for Durant, who has been dealing with the aftereffects of a calf strain he suffered a few days before training camp started July 6.
“It’s always a collaboration,” Kerr said. “It’s not just our training staff. (USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill) is constantly in touch with Kevin’s people, with the Suns. This is not going to be like us going out and saying, ‘Hey, let’s just throw him out there.’ This will be a big collaboration.”
The next step for Durant will be a scrimmage on Thursday, Kerr said, insisting that the Americans have no concerns that Durant will not be able to play in the Olympics.
The U.S. opens its Olympic slate against Serbia, followed by games with South Sudan on July 31 and Puerto Rico on Aug. 3. The tournament then shifts from Lille to Paris for the knockout stage: quarterfinals are on Aug. 6, semifinals are on Aug. 8 and the medal games are Aug. 10.
And, unlike the pandemic-delayed Tokyo Games that took place three years ago, there will be crowds. Tickets for Sunday’s opener are almost impossible to secure now, even on secondary markets. It will be a far cry from the empty arenas the Americans took the floor in when they were in Japan in 2021.
“I’ve been a student of the game for a long time, so I know how big the Olympics are and always have” been, said U.S. guard Devin Booker, part of the gold-winning team in 2021. “I was robbed of that in Japan, but I always knew the stakes of it.”
Said U.S. center Bam Adebayo, another part of that Tokyo team: “Obviously, it’s way different than Tokyo. It’s good for it to feel somewhat back to normal, have people in the stands. This is my second time, but feels like my first real, official Olympics.”
The team is scheduled to practice in Paris starting Thursday and then — led by U.S. Olympic flag bearer LeBron James, who will serve in that role alongside tennis star Coco Gauff — will take part in the opening ceremony down the Seine River on Friday.
The Americans went 5-0 in a slate of pre-Olympic exhibitions, beating Canada in Las Vegas, Australia and Serbia at Abu Dhabi, then upstart Olympic newcomer South Sudan and World Cup champion Germany in London. But the last two wins came by a total of five points, not the sort of margin many might have expected considering the Americans were 43.5-point favorites over South Sudan and 15.5-point favorites over Germany.
“I think we can get a lot better,” Kerr said. “We’re getting to a place where we are comfortable with our rotations and I think guys are getting familiar with each other. But we can do a lot of things better.”
