On Tuesday, HBO will air "The Offseason: Kevin Durant" at 10 p.m. ET, which gives viewers an inside look at what went into KD's summer, on and off the court. In the hour-long documentary, you will see Durant discuss what went into his decision to withdraw from Team USA, prior to the FIBA World Cup.
A few days before he reached out to Krzyzewski, Durant watched Indiana Pacers forward Paul George break his right leg in a horrific collision with a basket stanchion during a Team USA basketball scrimmage in Las Vegas that convinced the reigning NBA MVP to withdraw from the FIBA World Cup. "It took everything out of me seeing that," Durant later told friend Randy Williams and a Nike executive at his camp of George. "Everything I had to play for Team USA, that injury stripped it away from me."
Shortly after announcing his departure from the United States basketball team, Durant said that he could not fulfill his obligation from "both a time and energy standpoint." However, in the doc, KD admits that playing for Team USA "didn't feel right for some reason" after George's devastating injury. Watching PG break his leg on TV was absolutely brutal, so we could only imagine what it must've been like for someone, like KD, to see that happen in person. It's understandable to just lose that competitive desire after witnessing something so unfortunate happen to a teammate.
[via SB Nation]
