With less than a week to go before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, the U.S. men’s national basketball team has been forced to make roster adjustments. Cleveland Cavs’ veteran forward Kevin Love has withdrawn from Team USA and high scoring guard Bradley Beal is out after testing positive for Covid, leaving coach Gregg Popovich to replace them with Denver Nuggets’ center JaVale McGee and San Antonio Spurs’ forward Keldon Johnson.
Love spent 10 days with Team USA preparing for the Games but will not travel to Tokyo because he is not in peak shape, according to his agent Jeff Schwartz.
Johnson had been playing with the USA Select team and made an impact in exhibition games with the staff and selection committee. McGee, a finalist for Team USA, will report to the team in Las Vegas Saturday. The three-time NBA champion has no Olympic experience.
The additions came one day after Beal, who averaged 31 points for the Washington Wizard, entered safety protocol late Thursday night earlier in the game. USA Basketball announced late Thursday that the men’s basketball exhibition game against Australia Friday night had been canceled. Team USA’s final exhibition is scheduled for Sunday against Spain, with a charter flight to Japan set for Monday.
Love, who played for Team USA’s gold medal team in the 2012 Olympics, was a surprise pick for the team, Love missed 46 games because of injury and averaged 12.2 points in 25 games. He played in two of the American’s three exhibition games, scoring one point.
The Americans play their Olympic opener against France on July 25.
