Trae Young Posted The Isiah Thomas ‘I Met The Criteria’ Meme Amid USA Basketball’s Search For Replacements

With Bradley Beal off of the Olympic team due to COVID-19 protocols, and Jerami Grant perhaps set to join him, USA Basketball is on the lookout for late roster replacements. And, based on a tweet, it doesn’t seem like Trae Young will be heading to Tokyo.

Using the Isiah Thomas ‘I met the criteria’ meme from “The Last Dance”, Young seemed to indicate that he was not asked to join Team USA. There’s not really another way to read this tweet, right?

Young isn’t the only young star guard who has seemingly tweeted about a Team USA non-invite today, with Ja Morant seemingly tweeting about his own non-invite on Thursday, although he denied it. He also retweeted Young after Young’s tweet, for whatever that’s worth:

And Thomas himself seems to appreciate the use of the video.

Young has a case to feel like he’s been snubbed for Team USA. He’s an All-Star level player who led his team on a deep playoff run and plays the same position as Beal. But he also has not been with Team USA Select a la Cavs guard Darius Garland. It seems like that might matter to the USA Basketball brass, not to mention COVID-19 concerns heading into the Olympics.

That said: This is great posting from Young. It’s an elite pull to express exactly what he’s feeling right now, even if that criteria isn’t enough to actually get him a spot on the team.