Bulls guard Zach LaVine and Pistons forward Jerami Grant have committed to play for Team USA at the Tokyo Olympics, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter links).
There were already 11 players who had committed to represent the U.S. in Tokyo, but one of those players – Nets guard James Harden – is withdrawing, Charania reports (via Twitter).
Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press had noted earlier today (via Twitter) that there are still concerns about the hamstring injury that sidelined Harden for part of the second half of the season and several games in the Eastern Semifinals. He’ll focus on getting that hamstring back to 100% this summer.
As a result of the new commitments and Harden’s decision to pull out, the 12-team roster for Team USA now looks like this:
- Guards: Damian Lillard, Bradley Beal, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, LaVine
- Forwards: Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Khris Middleton, Grant
- Bigs: Bam Adebayo, Draymond Green, Kevin Love
Booker, Holiday, and Middleton are still alive in the postseason. However, Team USA managing director Jerry Colangelo previously said that Booker intends to play in Tokyo no matter how late the Suns’ season goes, and he suggested today that Holiday and Middleton have made similar commitments, per ESPN’s Brian Windhorst.
Even assuming those three players all remain committed, it’s possible the 12-man U.S. squad could undergo more tweaks if players suffer injuries or reconsider their summer plans. For now though, we have a pretty good idea of what the group competing for gold in Tokyo will look like. The Olympics are scheduled to begin a month from today.
MJ is the goat. Go Bulls. Happy for Lavine best 13th pick since Kobe
Careful you don’t set off all the touchy LeBron fans with that kind of talk.
MJ is the goat and go bulls as wel, I just don’t understand the comment on this, Zach lavine is not nor should fans try to make him MJ, he is Zach lavine and he is fun as hell to watch play basketball, now if we could just get an all defensive team PG who can’t shoot and trade value be at an all time low, can’t think of any…
How did love make it. I would rather have markanen
I know markanen can’t even be on the USA team I’m just sayin he’s better the. Love at this point
John Collins is better than both of em
The only thing Markkanon does better is be more free.
Who better than love to ride someone’s coattails to victory?
Grant over Randle?
I’m neither a Harden fan nor detractor; that said, I was truly surprised when he said he was going to play in the Olympics. I wonder if the team sat down and maybe asked real politely if he wouldn’t reconsider…
Either way, I think he made a wise decision to pass on the Olympics and concentrate on getting healthy.
Harden is lazy lol he just doesn’t want to miss out on his vacation
Lazy?