Kevin Durant and the small-market Oklahoma City Thunder are the darlings of ABC, according to the NBA national TV schedule. Durant and the Thunder will appear on ABC six times this season, more than any other team. The games are against six different opponents, with three at home and three on the road. Among the NBA’s multiple TV partners, ABC is the only network available in every American home with a TV. It is the home of the NBA Finals but not the
So far there has been one worthy suggestion for Team USA’s most fitting new nickname: “The Unknowns.” By the end of this week, perhaps something else will be more fitting, like the “C-Deem Team.” I was the guy four years ago who dubbed the 2010 World Championship team the “B-Deem” team as it traveled to Turkey, learned of how hard it would be to not lean on Kevin Durant, and got out of Istanbul with the gold medal by trouncing the
Kevin Durant quit. Paul George broke his leg. So what do we have here? The darkest days for USA Basketball since 2004 (Athens Olympics, which opened with a 19-point loss to Puerto Rico)? Here is the news story on Durant quitting. Yes, quitting. This is shameful, in my opinion. No national team anchor has ever done this. The fact that it comes at the same moment that Durant is leaving Nike and finishing details of an unbelievably lucrative $325 million sneaker and apparel deal with
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant made news today when he announced that he was withdrawing from Team USA. The United States basketball team has been preparing for the 2014 FIBA World Cup, and Durant was expected to be the veteran leader amongst the team this year. [Read more…]
Thursdays on Twitter are typically when everyone posts pictures from something from their past. The trend is called “Throwback Thursday” or “#TBT.” NBA athletes are not excluded from participation, as many often post old photographs, sometimes from their childhood, high school or college. Minnesota Timberwolves forward Kevin Love, who is said to be joining the Cleveland Cavaliers as soon as Andrew Wiggins is eligible to be traded on August 23rd, posted a photo from his high school days. Just prior to the big
In a stunning development, Kevin Durant withdrew from Team USA today, explaining he could not accommodate his “responsibilities to the team from both a time and energy standpoint.” The news came as Durant was switching his athletic apparel and sneaker affiliation from Nike to UnderArmour. USA Basketball issued a news release in which Durant explained: “This was an extremely difficult decision as I take great pride in representing our country. I know that I owe it to my USA Basketball teammates
In an interview in April 2013, Kevin Durant told Sports Illustrated he was tired of finishing second. Durant was the second player taken in the 2007 draft. He lost in the NBA Finals in 2012. He finished second in MVP voting four times. This past season, Durant took a huge step forward when he won his first MVP award, finally emerging from the shadow cast by LeBron James. But if he doesn’t win an NBA championship in the next two years with
The first round of Team USA cuts have been made. Adios John Wall, Bradley Beal and Paul Millsap. The roster now stands at 16. They have to cut it to 12 — and they’ve said they will cut it to 12 before leaving later this month for the World Cup in Spain. They still have four point guards. They are back to having just one power forward. They have four centers, one of whom — Andre Drummond — played horribly in