Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard and Warriors forward/center Draymond Green are among the first players to commit to Team USA ahead of the Tokyo Olympics, sources tell Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic.
Team USA figures to bring more than a dozen players to its initial camp this summer before paring down the roster to 12 for Tokyo, so Lillard’s and Green’s commitments don’t guarantee that they’ll be part of the final Olympic roster. However, it seems safe to assume that spots on the 12-man squad will be reserved for the two stars as long as they remain healthy and committed.
Green won a gold medal at the 2016 Olympics, while Lillard has yet to play for Team USA in a major international tournament. Green and Lillard are two of the 57 names listed as part of USA Basketball’s initial player pool in March, though as we noted last week, many of the players on that list seem unlikely to participate for a variety of reasons, including injuries.
Here are a few more updates from around the international basketball world:
- Team Canada’s preliminary roster for the Olympic qualifying tournament later this month included 14 current NBA players. However, according to Blake Murphy of The Athletic and Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca (Twitter links), at least three of those NBA players – Pacers forward Oshae Brissett, Grizzlies forward Dillon Brooks, and Celtics center Tristan Thompson – now aren’t expected to participate.
- The Serbian national team is preparing for the possibility of being without several key players for this month’s qualifying tournament, according to a MozzartSport report (hat tip to Sportando). Hawks swingman Bogdan Bogdanovic and reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic of the Nuggets are among the players considered unlikely to be available for the OQT in Belgrade.
- Longtime NBA shooting guard Marco Belinelli announced that he won’t be part of the Italian team attempting to earn an Olympic berth at this month’s qualifying tournament in Belgrade, according to Emiliano Carchia of Sportando. Belinelli, who is now playing for Virtus Bologna, wants to rest to make sure he’s 100% healthy for next season.
I bet Green announced it first, then Dame, who has been clamoring for the Blazers to acquire Draymond for like 5 years, followed so he could at least play some minutes with his fave player haha
I am surprised he committed how his shoulder was bothering him all year long.
It’s more surprising there were still so many Green detractors all year when every single player in the NBA, especially its superstars, have all said they would do anything to play on the same team as him.
Problem with Green is his contract, not his play –
His contract is underwater and even if the Pope wants to have dinner with him tonight it’s not going to change that. Players don’t bring cap into play when they talk about who they’d like to play with
Dame time in the Olympics that shouldn’t be? I’m torn with watching now.
Make sure the commitment is firm, and guarantee them their spots. It’s not a normal Olympic year. Job One is to avoid the fiasco of the World Championships a couple of years ago (which brought us back to the pre-USA basketball days, and needing to field and ever changing half a$$ all star team, which predictably lost).