Kawhi Leonard withdrew from Team USA and will miss the Paris Olympics. (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
The U.S. Olympic men’s basketball team will attempt a gold medal five-peat in Paris without six-time NBA All-Star Kawhi Leonard.
Leonard was asked to leave Team USA on Wednesday because of renewed concerns about the surgically repaired right knee that has kept him out of most meaningful competitions during his last four seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers. Leonard had attempted to rehab the knee since the end of the NBA season and last week declared he was prepared to play.
The decision to replace Leonard — Boston guard Derrick White was added to the 12-man roster and is expected to join the team for a two exhibition games in Abu Dhabi next week — came from USA Basketball, the sport’s governing body.
“We just felt that we had to pivot, and not to get into the particulars in terms of what went into the decision, but we just felt it was in our best interests, but also in the Clippers’ and Kawhi’s best interest, to move into a different direction,” Team USA executive director Grant Hill said before Team USA opened in its pre-Olympic exhibition schedule with an 86-72 victory over Team Canada in T-Mobile Center in Las Vegas.
“We tried. I think we all tried and we gave it a valiant effort and unfortunately we have to move forward. Ultimately he was sent home, but we were in conversation with the Clippers on that.”
Team USA head coach Steve Kerr was an assistant coach on the gold medal team at the 2021 Olympics in ... [+]
Sources told the Los Angeles Times that Hill, Team USA coach Steve Kerr and Clippers’ president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank became concerned about Leonard’s participation after watching him in a recent workout at the Clippers’ training facility in Los Angeles.
Team USA, which has won all five Olympics since a 2004 loss to Manu Genobili and Argentina, also has concerns about Kevin Durant, who has not participated in contact practices because of a calf strain. Team USA began workouts in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Durant did not play in Team USA’s victory over Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Team Canada on Wednesday night, but he should have plenty of time to recover before the U.S. opens Olympic Group C pool play against Nikola Jokic and Serbia on July 28.
Team USA will play exhibition games in Abu Dhabi against Australia on Monday and Serbia on Wednesday, and has exhibition games scheduled against South Sudan and Germany in London on July 20 and 22.
Grant Hill has a long history with Team USA, having played in 1996 Olympics with Hakeem Olajuwon, ... [+]
“I am happy to announce that Derrick will compete at his first Olympic Games on the heels of a championship season in Boston,” Hill said earlier in the day. “I want to thank Kawhi for his commitment to the USA Men's National Team.
“He earned the opportunity to represent the United States, but USA Basketball and Clippers leadership felt it's important to allow Kawhi to prepare for the NBA season."
While disappointing for Leonard, the move was not entirely unexpected, given the trouble Leonard has had staying on the court since suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee in the 2021 playoffs.
Kawhi Leonard has not been the same since suffering a right knee injury in the 2021 playoffs. (Photo ... [+]
Leonard, 33, played 68 games 2023-24, the most in his five seasons with the Clippers, but he missed the final eight regular-season games with knee inflammation and played in only two of the six first-round playoff games against Dallas, which went on to win the Western Conference.
He suffered the initial injury in the second round of a 2021 playoff series victory against Utah and did not play in the Western Conference Finals against Phoenix, a series the Suns won in six.
Leonard missed the 2021-22 season because of that surgery, which also limited him to five of the Clippers’ first 24 games that season. He played most of the rest of that season while being given periodic maintenance days, but he suffered torn meniscus in his right knee in the second game of playoff series against the Suns and missed the final four games of the Suns’ series victory.
He signed a three-year, $149.51 million max contract extension with the Clippers on Jan. 10 and was named to his sixth NBA All-Star team after averaging 23.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.6 steals per game this season.
Kevin Durant has been dealing with a strained calf that has kept him out of pre-Olympic contact ... [+]
Leonard was the NBA Defensive Player of the Year in 2015 and 2016, and his contributions on that end might be the most difficult to replace, even on a star-studded roster that includes LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Anthony Edwards, Anthony Davis, Jrue Holiday and Bam Adebayo.
Los Angeles Lakers’ center Davis was on the NBA All-Defense first team this season, and guard White has been on the second team the past two seasons. Holiday and Adebayo have been on the first or second NBA All-Defense team in each of the last four seasons.
White signed a four-year, $126 million extension with Boston after the Celtics won the NBA title.
Durant also is among the best defenders on a U.S. team that could face not only Jokic but Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and France twin towers Rudy Gobert and Victor Wembanyama, the 2024 NBA Rookie of the Year.