Durant’s withdrawal from Team USA this past summer came as a surprise to many. At the time of the announcement, KD cited exhaustion as his main cause for not participating, but recently revealed that it was Indiana Pacers star Paul George’s injury that impacted his decision. Hit the jump for details.
Via Real GM:
Kevin Durant withdrew from World Cup of Basketball after watching Paul George horrifically break his leg in a Team USA scrimmage in Las Vegas.
At the time of the announcement, Durant claimed that George’s injury had nothing to do with his decision to withdraw.
“It took everything out of me seeing that,” Durant later told friend Randy Williams and a Nike executive at his camp of George. “Everything I had to play for Team USA, that injury stripped it away from me.”
After Durant is shown reacting on court to what he called a “freak accident,” the scene shifts to conversation with Durant in which he says, “When you see something like that, so gruesome, in front of you, of course you’re going to think, ‘This could happen to me.’
Click above gallery for pictures.
