Steve Kerr has had a tough and tedious job as a coach so far in Team USA’s gold quest. The 58-year-old was handed over a hoops roster filled with ultra-superstars of the NBA. While he can only deploy 5 players at a time, it left him to bench a few names. Notably, he’s faced a series of backlash for his rotations and tactical decisions, especially after benching the reigning NBA Champion Jayson Tatum for a game. Similarly, in the list of tough calls, Kerr has taken yet another bold decision involving Kevin Durant.

Fortunately, this time Bam Adebayo had Kerr’s back. Unlike the last time when he decided to bench Tatum with zero minutes against Serbia, the community exploded with opinions. Notably, Stephen A. Smith called it a “nonsensical” decision. Anyhow, this time Steve didn’t decide with haste, taking his time to declare that Kevin Durant would be deployed from the second unit for the remainder of the tournament.

The Slim Reaper has had an interesting journey into the tournament. The 2x Champ sat out for all 5 exhibition games and made his return directly against Serbia off the bench. Since then, Steve Kerr continued to deploy him in the second rotation for the next two games and it’s worked out. As everyone expected the superstar to get a promotion in the knockouts, the star coach has squashed it. In a recent interview, Kerr said, “I think if Kevin had been here from Day 1, chances are he would be starting.”

“That was the plan, coming in, but given that he had missed all of our friendlies and came in late, we have a kind of established a lineup that we liked. When we brought him back, he was only playing only a certain amount of minutes against Serbia and he played so well and he fit so well with that group and it was devastating to see that group together. So there’s no plan on changing that.” Responding to Kerr’s words, KD’s second unit partner, Bam, surfaced in the comments, writing, “Bench Mob,” tagging Durant. With the quirky and outspoken personality that the Slim Reaper has, he obviously had to reply.

In response, Kevin Durant dropped a ‘chair’ emoji. While Bam Adebayo has conveyed his excitement, everyone would love to hear Anthony Edwards‘ response, as the young hooper, living his dream life, manifested this!

Anthony Edwards’ “biggest” dream with Kevin Durant comes true!

The Minnesota Timberwolves guard has had a magical and memorable run in Paris, playing alongside his childhood idol. Ahead of this tournament, Ant-Man had said, “I definitely still got butterflies there waiting for that to happen.” And in a weird coincidence, Kevin Durant’s injury allowed them to step on the court together in the second unit.

While the youngster feared that he might lose this opportunity once KD moved to the starting lineup, he pleaded with a request! The rising superstar said, “I love that he’s coming off the bench. I get to play with him, so I hope the coach keeps bringing him off the bench. I get to pass it to him. He gets to pass it back. That’s probably one of my biggest dreams ever, so that’s dope.” Fortunately, his manifestation ultimately came true, as Kerr has now publicly declared to deploy Kevin Durant from the bench.

Nevertheless, there is another twist in the tale.

While Kerr promised that he would keep Kevin Durant on the bench, he also said, “Of course, as the games get more difficult, my guess is Kevin will be playing more and more minutes. He’ll keep coming off the bench, but we’ll lean on him more.”

So, this could go either way. Do you think he will start the game? Let us know in the comments.

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