Kevin Durant comes off bench in U.S. Olympic opener vs. Serbia

Kevin Durant made his return to Team USA for Sunday’s Olympic opener against Serbia at the Paris Games and showed what the Americans were missing with him out.

Durant entered the game in the first quarter and made his first shot attempt, a 3-pointer, then went on to have a perfect shooting half, going 8-for-8 from the field (5-for-5 from 3) to lead all scorers with 21 points at the break.

USA Basketball announced that Durant would be available to play about an hour before the game. Durant wasn’t in the starting lineup after coach Steve Kerr indicated Saturday that the Phoenix Suns star might come off the bench in his return.

Joel Embiid started for the U.S. after he missed practice Saturday with an illness.

Durant missed all five of the team’s pre-Olympic exhibitions with a calf strain. He originally got hurt a few days before the team convened in Las Vegas for training camp in early July and had returned to full practice last week.

He is bidding to become the first four-time Olympic men’s basketball gold medalist. The all-time U.S. men’s leader in Olympic scoring was on the teams that won titles at the London Games in 2012, the Rio de Janeiro Games in 2016 and the Tokyo Games in 2021.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.