‘The Claw’ bows out. Two-time NBA champion and Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard has made the excruciating decision to withdraw from Team USA’s basketball team for the upcoming Olympics in Paris later this month, USA Basketball announced on Wednesday. It would have been his first time representing the ‘Red, White and Blue’ in the Olympics, after being named a finalist for the 2016 and 2020 teams.
“Kawhi has been ramping up for the Olympics over the past several weeks and had a few strong practices in Las Vegas,” said a statement from USA Basketball. “He felt ready to compete. However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers determined it’s in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.”
Leonard, 33 years-of-age, took the floor for 68 games during the 2023-24 NBA regular season while battling through chronic knee soreness and inflammation. He was a full participant in every Team USA practice and scrimmage during the preparation for the Paris Games, also mentoring the younger players on the team. Even with all that hard work and commitment, Leonard and team staff felt that his ailing knee would limit him from being 100% during the Olympic tournament.
Leonard was forced to sit out the entire 2021-22 NBA campaign after tearing his ACL during the 2021 postseason and was limited to only two games during the 2023 playoffs due to a torn meniscus.
Embed from Getty ImagesHe said earlier this month that the Clippers were “not really” worried about him playing for Team USA. “They were positive about the situation,” Leonard said. “So, yeah, they wasn’t too worried about it.”
According to ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, Derrick White of the World Champion Boston Celtics is set to replace Leonard on the roster. This is not White’s first rodeo in Olympic competition. He was a part of the 2019 FIBA World Cup squad that finished a disappointing seventh.
Team USA begins its pre-Olympic exhibition schedule Wednesday night in Las Vegas at T-Mobile Arena against Canada. They will then travel to the United Arab Emirates for two games against Australia and Serbia next week before closing out the tour in London against South Sudan and Germany.
Serbia, South Sudan and Puerto Rico will be Team USA’s opposition in the Olympic group phase, which kicks off on July 28 in Lille, France.
