According to Matthew Huff of The Sports Daily on Monday, Team USA has made a change on their Olympic men’s basketball roster leading up to the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. On the team now is Boston Celtics guard Derrick White of Parker, Colorado, and off is Los Angeles Clippers small forward Kawhi Leonard of Los Angeles, California.
It is interesting that Leonard was the 12th player selected to Team USA on April 16, after the initial 11 players were selected earlier in April. The Clippers encouraged Leonard not to play at the Olympics, and instead prepare for the upcoming season. Leonard has a history of injury issues and has not played 70 games in a season since 2016-17.
White was part of the Celtics team, that won the 2024 NBA Finals. The Celtics beat the Dallas Mavericks in five games.
In 73 games this past season, White averaged 15.2 points per game, 5.2 assists per game, 4.2 rebounds per game, 1.2 blocks per game, and one steal per game. He had a field goal percentage of .461, three point percentage of .396, and a free throw percentage of .901.
There are two Celtics on the Team USA roster. The other is forward Jayson Tatum of St. Louis, Missouri.
Leonard is not the only player who plays for a California-based NBA franchise who decided not to make one of their players available for the Olympic Games. The other is the Golden State Warriors, who have controversially told Team Canada that Andrew Wiggins is not available.
Team USA has won eight of the last nine gold medals in Olympic men’s basketball. In Paris, they are in a group that includes South Sudan, Puerto Rico and Serbia.
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