{"id":85400,"date":"2024-07-10T11:39:41","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T15:39:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=85400"},"modified":"2024-07-10T11:41:06","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T15:41:06","slug":"paris-olympics-nba-champion-kawhi-leonard-withdraws-from-team-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/07\/10\/paris-olympics-nba-champion-kawhi-leonard-withdraws-from-team-usa\/","title":{"rendered":"Paris Olympics: NBA Champion Withdraws From Team USA"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>USA Basketball will be missing one of its best players during the Paris Olympics, as Los Angeles Clippers forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/l\/leonaka01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kawhi Leonard<\/a> has withdrawn from Team USA, per The Athletic\u2019s Shams Charania and Joe Vardon. Leonard, 33, had missed 12 of the Clippers\u2019 final 14 games last season with a knee injury. This includes all but two of their matches against the Dallas Mavericks in the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Kawhi Leonard is withdrawing from Team USA for the Paris Olympics and will be replaced, sources tell me and <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joevardon?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@joevardon<\/a>. Boston\u2019s Derrick White is a strong candidate to replace Leonard on Team USA, sources said. <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/OlgwcDb012\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/OlgwcDb012<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1811049157177880710?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">July 10, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Though the reason for Leonard\u2019s withdrawal isn\u2019t explicitly stated, he\u2019s likely still experiencing pain in his right knee. Notably, Leonard appeared to be <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/usabasketball\/status\/1809363830436426068\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">using his luggage as a crutch<\/a> upon entering Team USA\u2019s training camp facility.<\/p>\n<h2>NBA Champion Kawhi Leonard Withdraws From Team USA<\/h2>\n<p>Boston Celtics guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whitede01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Derrick White<\/a> \u201cis a strong candidate to replace\u201d the two-time NBA Finals MVP.<\/p>\n<p>White, an ultra-effective two-way player, became a media darling last season. Now an NBA champion, White\u2019s decision-making, defense, and his effectiveness from long-distance are lauded. If he should be named as Leonard\u2019s Team USA replacement, it\u2019ll be the cherry on top of his career year. He\u2019d also join two other Celtics \u2014<a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/tatumja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jayson Tatum<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/holidjr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jrue Holiday<\/a> \u2014in Paris.<\/p>\n<h3>Aren\u2019t There Better Options?<\/h3>\n<p>After teammate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brownja02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Jaylen Brown<\/a> won the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/05\/28\/celtics-jaylen-brown-honored-eastern-conference-finals-mvp\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">2024 Eastern Conference Finals MVP<\/a> award and <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/18\/celtics-pillar-jaylen-brown-bestowed-fmvp-honor-nba-finals-victory\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">2024 NBA Finals MVP<\/a> award, he <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/16\/2024-paris-olympics-options-team-usa-final-roster-spot\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">should also be considered<\/a>. After all, he\u2019s among the league\u2019s best two-end players himself. Nonetheless, White\u2019s off-ball shooting could give him a leg up in the selection process. USA Basketball director Grant Hill isn\u2019t just trying to amass talent, he\u2019s trying to put a puzzle together.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why White\u2019s being considered over guards who, in a vacuum, are better.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Atlanta Hawks guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/y\/youngtr01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Trae Young<\/a> and Sacramento Kings guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/foxde01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">De\u2019Aaron Fox<\/a> are franchise stars. Both players have demonstrated exceptional scoring ability. However, neither are as comfortable playing off the ball as White or Holiday. Unlike Indiana Pacers floor general <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/halibty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Haliburton<\/a>, their primary focus isn\u2019t finding their teammates for easy looks.<\/p>\n<p>The defensive component is another important factor. Because Team USA is so stacked, several players will have low scoring numbers. These players will have to make their impact felt in other ways, primarily defensively. White, a career role player, will take to that mindset much more than Young or Fox.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>USA Basketball will be missing one of its best players during the Paris Olympics, as Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard has withdrawn from Team USA, per The Athletic\u2019s Shams Charania and Joe Vardon. Leonard, 33, had missed 12 of the Clippers\u2019 final 14 games last season with a knee injury. This includes all but [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":85412,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[60,1608,5,27,62],"tags":[664,1090,168,4745,1052,2081,1349],"class_list":["post-85400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-olympics","category-basketball","category-celtics","category-clippers","category-nba","tag-deaaron-fox","tag-derrick-white","tag-kawhi-leonard","tag-nba-injuries","tag-olympics","tag-team-usa","tag-trae-young"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=85400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/85400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/85412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=85400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=85400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=85400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}