USA Basketball has a roster spot open on its men’s Olympic team. According to Shams Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic, Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard withdrew from the team during its training camp in Las Vegas, which opened up an opportunity for someone else to join the roster before they head over to France — Charania and Vardon noted that Derrick White is a strong candidate to join the team.
Kawhi Leonard is withdrawing from Team USA for the Paris Olympics and will be replaced, sources tell me and @joevardon. Boston’s Derrick White is a strong candidate to replace Leonard on Team USA, sources said. pic.twitter.com/OlgwcDb012
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 10, 2024
The news was confirmed not long after by USA Basketball, which released a statement indicating that Leonard “had a few strong practices,” but ultimately, the decision was made for him “to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.”
An update on Kawhi Leonard from the USA Basketball Men's National Team. pic.twitter.com/84TjYpc90i
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 10, 2024
It is unclear if anything happened to Leonard — who famously has a checkered injury history — which led to him leaving the team. This comes right before the team’s first exhibition game in the lead-up to the Olympics, which will take place on Wednesday night against Canada.
Losing Leonard is a huge blow for USA Basketball, because while he would almost certainly come off the bench and play limited minutes, his ability to stretch the floor and provide elite on-ball defense would have been an excellent fit on the wing. The roster’s other listed forwards are Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and Jayson Tatum, and while those are three elite players who thrive in the international game, Leonard would have provided something a little different.
