KEVIN Durant practiced with the US Olympic basketball team on Friday, a major step toward getting him back on track for the Paris Games that open next week.

It was Durant's first time on the floor with the team this summer. He strained his calf a few days before the July 6 start of training camp in Las Vegas and missed the team's first three exhibition games.

"I've seen progress every day," Durant told reporters before practice in London, where the US will play South Sudan on Saturday and Germany on Monday in its final two tune-ups before the Olympics.

The US is 3-0 in its pre-Olympic tune-ups, beating Canada in Las Vegas and then defeating Australia and Serbia at Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, earlier this week before traveling to London.

And now the all-time leader in scoring for the US men's program at the Olympics — Durant has scored 435 points in Olympic play, 99 more than fellow three-time gold medalist Carmelo Anthony — seems on the brink of making an already-deep team even deeper.

"More firepower, more leadership, more experience in the FIBA game," three-time Olympic medalist LeBron James said. "We welcome his return."

Durant has a chance to become the first four-time men's basketball gold medalist in Olympic history, after being part of US teams that won gold at Tokyo three years ago, Rio de Janeiro in 2016 and London in 2012.

He said being back in London rekindled those early Olympic memories.

The Paris Olympics open on July 26. The US men play their first game of the tournament two days later against Serbia at Lille, France.

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