The USA's national basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has told of the difficulties that Kevin Durant's withdrawal from the squad has caused as they prepare to face Brazil.

Durant has had to pull out from the team, with the player citing both mental and physical fatigue following a long season in the NBA.

"We had a whole camp building what we're doing around him," Krzyzewski told reporters.

"So that's the very first thing: You had one of the great scorers at the [power forward position]. So how does that change your offense? That changes your offense immensely.

"You have to do more to get your guards shots. I mean, these guards are really good, but they were complementing one another – Kevin with those guards. ... Now we have to look at developing our inside and getting the guards more involved."

The USA were hit with another injury scare recently as DeMarcus Cousins became the victim of a bruised bone in practice.