Ben Simmons heads the list of players named by Basketball Australia to the country’s preliminary Olympic squad, Marc Stein of the New York Times tweets. Among some of the other NBA notables on the 24-player list are Aron Baynes, Joe Ingles, Dante Exum, Matisse Thybulle, Patty Mills, Josh Green, Thon Maker and Matthew Dellavedova. The squad will have to be pared to 12 players for the Olympic tournament in Tokyo this summer.
We have more from around the basketball world:
- The Erie BayHawks waived guard Jacob Evans to make room for forward Jordan Bell, JD Shaw of Hoops Rumors tweets. Bell was released from his 10-day contract with the Wizards over the weekend. Evans played for the Warriors and Timberwolves the past two seasons.
- The NBA will soon require players to wear KN95 or KF94 masks on the bench and all other areas where masks are necessary, Tim Bontemps of ESPN writes. The new rule will go into effect over the next week. Starting with games on Friday, the NBA will more strictly enforce current rules regarding the use of face masks, Bontemps adds.
- The Athletic trio of James Edwards III (Pistons), Mike Vorkunov (Knicks) and Chris Kirschner (Hawks) take a closer look at their teams’ free agent moves during the offseason, how well those players have worked out so far, and what those franchises could have done differently.
Australia will have a good team it looks like.
team canada should have a decent roster too, and look out for serbia, jokics team. if they get to play.
Serious question, does anyone pay to read articles published by the Athletic?
dana guaruder maybe.
No. I have a hard time paying people for their opinions when so many give them away for free!
I do, as many of the better espn writers have migrated there over time. Hollinger’s basketball analysis is always interesting, I like Keith Law’s MLB prospect info (although Law isn’t everyone’s cup of tea), and their draft coverage is better than most. You can find similar coverage all over the place if you have the time to look, but I appreciate condensing it all in one place. That is worth the cost for me.
I thought the Olympics were cancelled…
Thats a murky area nobody is defining truthfully just yet. I chalk it up to business as usual for the teams until they are told directly not to come to Japan.
I have personal acquaintances in Japan, and they think western Media is off its rocker pretending that there is even a slight possibility the olympics are still a go in Tokyo. Thats as much as I know, call it heresay, I guess. Not sure if that means its cancelled because Japan says no, or if there are other autborities involved that can force Japan to participate?
I expect basketball players & coaches to play basketball, not be experts in economics, or even i information, so if I wanted better idea on this I would probably consult financial forums, or international economic forums not sports Journalism.
I have relegated myself to accepting last years standards applying to this one also. I’m not as motivated to pursue the details as I was last year.
you think they could create an international bubble for basketball teams so they could still do the competition? or any other sport with enough support or following in different regions.