Durant on Spurs' Gregg Popovich: "He ain't playing out here"

Kevin Durant has taken notice that San Antonio Spurs Coach Gregg Popovich is serious this time. The Men's Olympic Basketball Team is in Tokyo awaiting the tipoff of their Group A showdown with France and recently walked with Team USA in the opening ceremonies.

As he paraded with the entire United States delegation, Durant went live on Instagram to let his fans know how things have been going on the road to a gold medal bid.

"We've been having real training camp for, like, two weeks," said Durant. "Gregg Popovich be having us run for 20 straight minutes, yo."

Durant is the superstar Coach Popovich made no doubt he wanted more than anything for Team USA. "‘I would have begged, cried, done anything to change his mind if he said no," he previously said after helping assemble the roster. Now, he's putting his best player through the ringer along with everyone else.

"I don't remember the last time I ran this much and then played basketball," Durant continued on his live stream. "Pop ain't playing with us. He's trying to keep us prepared."

There's probably no one in the world more anxious to capture that elusive gold medal than Coach Popovich. His USA Team recently finished seventh in the 2019 FIBA World Cup while his last stint with the Olympic team in 2004 as an assistant ended with a bronze medal.

"At the end of the day, it's all gonna be worth it," said Durant. Let's hope he's right.

The U.S. Men's Olympic Basketball Team tips off preliminary play against Rudy Gobert and Team France on Sunday, July 25th at 8 am ET from Super Arena in Japan. Current San Antonio Spur Keldon Johnson has been seeing significant time in exhibition games, but with Jrue Holiday, Devin Booker, and Khris Middleton recently coming on board, time will tell if that continues.