Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard withdrew from the Team USA males’s basketball Olympic roster on Wednesday.
USA Basketball stated the group and the Clippers decided that Leonard ought to give attention to preparing for the upcoming 2024-25 season.
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“Kawhi has been ramping up for the Olympics over the previous a number of weeks and had just a few robust practices in Las Vegas,” USA Basketball stated. “He felt able to compete.
However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers decided it’s in his finest curiosity to spend the rest of the summer season getting ready for the upcoming season reasonably than collaborating within the Olympic Games in Paris.”
The Athletic first reported Leonard was going to withdraw from the roster. The report added that Boston Celtics guard Derrick White was a “robust” candidate to switch Leonard on the roster.
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Kawhi Leonard, #8 of the 2024 USA Basketball Men’s National Team, walks on the court docket after a apply session through the group’s coaching camp on the Mendenhall Center at UNLV on July 8, 2024 in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Leonard is coming off a season by which he performed almost 70 video games for the primary time since 2018-19, when he had one yr with the Toronto Raptors. He joined the Clippers earlier than the 2019-20 season and performed 57 video games. He performed 52 video games in 2020-21, missed the whole 2021-22 season with a torn ACL and performed 52 video games in 2022-23.
Last season, he performed and began in 68 video games and earned his first All-Star choice for the reason that 2020-21 season. He averaged 23.7 factors and 6.1 rebounds per sport.
However, he solely performed in two of the Clippers’ first-round playoff video games in opposition to the Dallas Mavericks due to a proper knee damage.
Kawhi Leonard, #8 of the USAB Men’s Team, shoots the ball through the USAB Men’s Training Camp on July 8, 2024 at UNLV in Las Vegas. (Brian Babineau/NBAE through Getty Images)
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The Athletic reported that Leonard remains to be coping with persistent knee soreness and irritation and has been “for months.”
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