Kevin Durant Wants to Be Team USA Basketball Managing Director After He Retires From the NBA
Kevin Durant is not done thinking about Team USA even when he stops playing.
The Houston Rockets star told Boardroom Talks this week that his post-playing career target is the Managing Director job for USA Basketball, the same role currently held by Grant Hill and famously filled by Jerry Colangelo from 2005 to 2021.
“One of my main goals is to be the GM of Team USA,” Durant said. “In one of these Olympics, one of these years, I want to do that job one time.”
Take Durant seriously here, because he has earned it.
There is no player in Team USA history with a stronger claim to that job than Kevin Durant. Four Olympic gold medals. A record 518 career Olympic points. He has carried the Americans through elimination games in Tokyo, in Paris, and against the moments where lesser stars have shrunk. If the Managing Director job is about picking players, understanding matchups, and knowing what the modern international game asks of an NBA star, Durant has lived it.
He turns 38 next month. His playing contract runs through 2028. He is not walking away from basketball tomorrow, but he is starting to say out loud what he wants next, and that itself is telling.
Durant has been asked about retirement more than he probably wants to be at this point in his career. He recently made comments hinting the end might not be as far away as fans think. Now he is publicly campaigning for a front office role. Add it up and you get a player who is preparing his exit.
Team USA needs him.
The 2028 Los Angeles Olympics will be the biggest basketball spectacle of the decade, and USA Basketball needs to build a squad that can navigate a global game that has never been more competitive. Serbia has Nikola Jokic. France has Victor Wembanyama and a full pipeline. Germany won the 2023 World Cup. Canada is a top-five basketball nation now.
The GM role for Team USA is not a ceremonial gig anymore. It requires deep NBA relationships, a modern understanding of positional versatility, and the credibility to convince NBA superstars to spend their summer playing for free in exchange for national pride. Durant has all three.
He has spent time with every generation currently in the league. He has played alongside LeBron James, Steph Curry, Jayson Tatum, Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker, and the rest of the American star tier. He has coached the next wave up in practice settings and Olympic camps. Recruiting for Team USA under Durant would be a phone call.
The obvious question is what happens to Grant Hill. Hill took over for Colangelo in 2021 and has done a solid job. He is popular around the league, respected inside USA Basketball, and has not been publicly on the hot seat. There is no obvious opening.
But basketball roles turn over. Colangelo held the job for 16 years and then walked away. Hill has been there for five. When Durant does retire in the next few years, it would be shocking if USA Basketball did not at least sit down with him and talk about the future.
Durant said his goal is to do it “one time.” One Olympic cycle. That is a reasonable ask for a player who has given Team USA more than any of his contemporaries.
He deserves the shot. Whenever it comes.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
