Kevin Durant may win a title this year after all.
But an Olympic gold medal, instead of an NBA championship ring.
The Nets star is expected to commit to Team USA for the Tokyo Olympics this summer, according to The Athletic.
The news came the morning after Durant poured in 48 points in a losing effort of Game 7 of the Eastern Conference semifinals. He averaged 34.3 points, 9.3 rebounds and 4.4 assists in 12 playoff games for the Nets before getting eliminated by Milwaukee.
Durant could become arguably the most prolific basketball player in Olympic history at these games, which runs July 23 through Aug. 8 in Tokyo. He already has 2012 gold from London and 2016 gold from Rio, and is just 25 points shy of former Knicks star Carmelo Anthony’s all-time Olympic scoring record.
Though LeBron James has already ruled out competing and Steph Curry is on the fence, Durant’s former Warriors teammate Draymond Green will represent Team USA, along with Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Damian Lillard and Jayson Tatum.
Six other Nets were in the preliminary pool of players for Team USA — with the team slated to be picked by the end of this month. Spencer Dinwiddie — who has been in Los Angeles rehabbing from a partially torn ACL suffered on Dec. 27, 2020 — is expected to play for Nigeria.
Dinwiddie confirmed plans to decline his $12.3 million player option for next season and become an unrestricted free agent, according to ESPN. The point guard had until Monday to do so.
The Post had reported that was a likelihood back in March, and Dinwiddie himself had said as much two months later.
“I’m gonna be more than healthy by the time free agency starts, so just from a dollars perspective you kind of have to,” Dinwiddie told Forbes. “Twelve million dollars isn’t market value for a starting point guard. It’s probably about half, $20 million-$25 [million]. So obviously it’s pretty concrete that I’m gonna opt out.”
Boston’s dysfunction has continued to be Brooklyn’s fortune.
Blake Griffin assumed the Nets’ role of starting center since signing with the team in March. But it turns out he’d asked a friend on the Celtics’ roster whether he should sign there midseason, and was warned to stay away, according to The Athletic.
It was Kyrie Irving becoming disenchanted with Boston that allowed the Nets to sign him in free agency. He helped recruit Durant as a package deal, and James Harden forced his way from Houston to Brooklyn to form a Big 3.