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OKLAHOMA CITY -- While LeBron James is undecided, reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Kevin Durant told ESPN on Monday that he intends to return to Team USA for the 2016 Olympics in Brazil. Durant withdrew from national-team duty in August shortly before the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain. "Hopefully I'll be there. It's whoever Mr. [Jerry] Colangelo and Coach K [Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski] pick," Durant said in an interview on his 26th birthday scheduled to air later this week on SportsCenter. "I would love to have the chance to play in another Olympics."  James said after the Cavaliers' practice in Cleveland he's "nowhere near" deciding if he'll again play for Team USA in two years. "I haven't even thought about it too much. I haven't decided," James said. Durant said again Monday that fatigue was his motivation for leaving Team USA before the World Cup, insisting that neither his summerlong shoe-contract negotiations with Nike and Under Armour nor the season-ending compound leg fracture suffered Aug. 1 by Indiana Pacers star Paul George prompted his withdrawal. "I was tired," Durant said. "I just wanted to have some time to just enjoy my summer and continue to work on my game but just enjoy my summer. Coach K and Mr. Colangelo understood and they made this whole thing easy for me. "The thing I didn't want to happen was for it to overshadow what those guys were doing because they deserved to be in their moment. I was so excited for them, especially the newer guys that hadn't played in international competition before. It felt like four years ago when we were playing in 2010 and had all the young guys. That's what their team looked like, so I was excited they got the W [in the tournament in Spain]." The 29-year-old James has played on three U.S. Olympic teams, winning gold medals in Beijing and London and a bronze in Athens. James did not play for Team USA this summer as he wanted some time off and had another big decision to make, re-signing with the Cavaliers. James will likely face more questions about his plans for two summers from now later this month when the Cavs play an exhibition in Rio de Janiero against Miami. For Durant, the summer of 2016 also happens to be his free-agent summer, which he also addresses in the SportsCenter sitdown, acknowledging the fact that his future -- much like James' this past season -- is already generating plenty of discussion. Even though Durant is two summers away from free agency, teams such as the New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers and the Washington Wizards are among those that have already been strongly linked to him. "You know they're going to come, [so] just answer them and let people know I really enjoy being in Oklahoma City and I'm just trying to focus on the season," said Durant, who grew up a Wizards fan as a Maryland native, of the inevitable questions about his future looming this season. "But I know those questions are going to come and I'm not going to lie about them. I'm not going to lie and say I don't think about it. But also just know, my main focus is trying to be the best player I can be and the best leader I can be for Oklahoma City and we'll cross that bridge when we get there." In the interview, Durant also discusses Oklahoma City's free-agent pursuit of Pau Gasol at length for the first time. Despite repeated personal pleas in July from Durant and fellow Thunder star Russell Westbrook, Gasol elected to sign with the Chicago Bulls as a free agent. "Sometimes that stuff don't work out for you, but as long as you can say you put a full-court press on, that's cool, no matter what," Durant said. "That was a fun process, so I was excited to be a part of something like that for once. ... Never [recruited] before to that extent. I may have texted guys, but no one as big as Pau Gasol. We put all our effort into it. It didn't work out for us, but sometimes that's how the game goes." When asked how much he thinks skipping the World Cup can help him during his eighth NBA season, with the Thunder still chasing their first championship, Durant said: "Hopefully a lot. I just know sometimes taking that rest is important. "I didn't realize that my earlier years in my career," he said. "But knowing how important rest is is just as important as knowing how important working out is. I learned a lot from going through the situation with USA Basketball, how much I need to learn about myself some times. I decided that my workload this year, I don't know what the difference is going to be from last year, so I'm going to take it one day at a time." Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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