LILLE, France – Three-time Olympic gold medalist Kevin Durant was instrumental yet again in delivering a dominant opening performance at the Olympic Games Paris 2024. While the U.S. men’s basketball team started slow overall, Durant, alongside two-time Olympic gold medalist LeBron James, led the charge to find their groove to defeat Team Serbia, 110-84.

Durant, 35, shutdown all doubts of his post-injury abilities after finishing with a game-high 23 points coming off the bench – 21 of those points being dropped from 8-of-8 shooting (5-of-5 beyond the arc) in the first half. He finished 8-of-9 overall in 17 minutes of playing following a missed jumper to the exclamation of the 27,000 fans within the Pierre Mauroy Stadium.

“Oh man, it felt great leaving my hands,” Durant laughed after nearly shooting 9-of-9. “I definitely wanted to finish the game perfect.”

Due to a left calf strain sustained in late April, Team USA’s all-time leading scorer hasn’t played since the Phoenix Suns’ first-round exit during the NBA playoffs. Durant also missed the entire USA Basketball Showcase, a series of five exhibition matches, in the lead up to Paris. The U.S. went undefeated in five games, picking up wins against Canada, Australia, Serbia, South Sudan and Germany.

The 6-foot-11 superstar noted he had been practicing with the team since Wednesday, and U.S. head coach Steve Kerr said he’d be ready for the game and not put on a minute restriction.

“Right after I scrimmaged, I felt good,” Durant said regarding his calf injury. “(I was in) no pain. I was able to get up the next day and had a better routine so I knew I’d be able to play (tonight).”

Durant would come off of the bench upon his long-awaited return, while Jrue Holiday, Stephen Curry, Devin Booker, James and Joel Embiid would start for Team USA going into the game.

Serbia capitalized early after tipoff, finding themselves with a 10-2 lead due to multiple turnovers from the Americans. Following a U.S. head coach Steve Kerr timeout, the team found their groove to maintain a nine-point lead going into the half (58-49).

Kerr commended Serbia’s strong start but noted gratitude to Durant and the second wave of players for starting the momentum needed to complete the comeback.

“It was a tough start,” Kerr responded to the poor start. “We were turning the ball over. I thought Serbia played really well first quarter. And so Kevin (Durant) coming in (and) the whole second group … kind of got the game back in our favor. And we were able to build on that from there.”