Durant umayaw rin sa USA Team

MANILA, Philippines - Umayaw si Kevin Durant sa U.S. national team na siyang pinakamalaking kawalan sa humihinang American squad na sasabak sa FIBA World Cup sa Spain.

Sumama pa ang NBA MVP na si Durant, ang leading scorer ng Team USA sa pag-angkin ng dalawang gold medal, sa training camp sa Las Vegas noong nakaraang linggo ngunit bigla na lang siyang nagsabi sa mga team officials na hindi na siya magpapatuloy.

“Kevin reached out to Coach K and myself this afternoon and expressed that he is just physically and mentally drained from the NBA season and his attention to his many res-ponsibilities,” sabi ni USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo sa isang statement. “He tried to give it a go at our recent Las Vegas training camp but felt coming out of camp that he was not prepared to fulfill the commitment he made to the team.’’

Si Durant ang hinirang na MVP ng world championship noong 2010 matapos igiya ang Americans sa titulo na huling nakuha noong 1994.

Bumandera rin ang Oklahoma City star sa gold medal-winning team noong 2012 Olympics at pinamunuan ang Americans sa kanyang 19.5 points per game.

Noong nakaraang linggo ay nabalian ng kanang binti si Indiana Pacers star Paul George matapos ang pag-ayaw sa team nina All-Stars Kevin Love, Blake Griffin at LaMarcus Aldridge pati na si NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard.

“This was an extremely difficult decision as I take great pride in representing our country,’’ sabi ni Durant. “I know that I owe it to my USA Basketball teammates to be totally invested in the experience. After going through training camp with USAB, I realized I could not fulfill my res-ponsibilities to the team from both a time and ener-gy standpoint.”