COVID-19 postponed the Olympics last year and is creating havoc in the men’s basketball competition with the Tokyo games just a week away. After Team USA lost Bradley Beal and had Jerami Grant placed under health and safety protocols on Thursday, the day ended with an announcement that today’s exhibition game between the U.S. and Australia has been canceled, tweets Marc Stein.
A press release cited “an abundance of caution” and stated that today’s women’s game between the two nations will go on as planned. Both American teams are slated to wrap up their exhibition schedules Sunday, with the men facing Spain and the women taking on Nigeria.
The Australian men’s team is operating under even stricter protocols than the U.S., which may have contributed to the cancellation, sources told Brian Windhorst of ESPN. Windhorst notes that players have limitations while in Las Vegas for the exhibitions, but they can freely move around their hotels and visit casinos. Because players’ family and friends won’t be allowed to attend the games in Tokyo, USA Basketball welcomed them to Vegas and has them in testing protocols.
“It’s costing people opportunities of a lifetime,” Draymond Green said Thursday after the announcement that Beal won’t be able to play in the Olympics. “We all came in hoping we wouldn’t be affected by it. It’s just not the way it’s gone.”
Officials from USA Basketball held meetings Thursday to decide on a replacement on Beal. Players from the 57-man roster that was announced in March will receive consideration, Windhorst adds, and coach Gregg Popovich said conditioning could be a factor with most NBA players well into the offseason.
“We have to make sure somebody is in shape because we don’t have time once we get there with just a couple of practices,” Popovich said. “It’s going to take a certain individual that we think can pick it all up quickly.”
Among the names that have been mentioned as possible replacements for Beal are Knicks forward Julius Randle, Sixers forward Tobias Harris, and Rockets big man Christian Wood.
It’s by far the stupidest thing to even have these Olympics, just cancel them entirely and try again in 2024.
Agreed. Tokyo (and Japan as a whole, I believe) is going through a spike in cases right now and holding the games feels irresponsible at best and negligent at worse.
Life must go on. Adapt be cautious and let the games begin. Enough is enough.
You are right life must go on, but I really don’t think the Olympics are worth it. Cancel them outright and just try look toward Paris in three years. That’s the safer, smarter, better option than letting them continue.
I would agree ’cause the Olympics are just hot garbage…
But, havin’ said that, the problem is that in sports usually 99.9% of the guys that go to the games hardly earn a living with it, usually is just by funding from their country & that solely depends in Olympic performance, which means that many sportsmen/women from many sports might very well not survive 3 more years until Paris…
That is why they have to happen, as simple as, the economics of sports dictate it, now all the rich guys of the only 2 sports that people make $$$ in the games, they can stay home, no one needs/wants them anyway!
They are just trying to protect Simmons value…imo
good question Simmons should want to prove his critics are wrong by going for the Olympics. To me Simmons just doesn’t have the attitude to be the best. If he wanted to be the best he would be trying harder to prove his critics wrong instead of taking a long vacation.
Tobias Harris would be a bad fit for this team
Also, don’t you want guys who can I don’t know, show up in big games? Harris turns into a d3 guy when the spotlight is on
Since Lebron and Curry is out the next best to go for is Trae Young. The other option is go with a real PG that passes instead of a bunch isolation players. Beal will not be missed since he played isolation game instead of a passer.
“Players have limitations…” but they can visit casinos… Seems smart lol
Hindsight is 20/20 but why did they have this in Vegas even towards the tail end of the pandemic? I know USA basketball usually has their stuff there but it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize the elevated risks/exposure being in Vegas creates.
All this international travel cannot be helpful. Things are being held in so-called destination cities.
Why are these covid protocols still a thing? Aren’t the players on the olympic team vaccinated already? And if they are not, then… well, what the hell is wrong with them?