Team USA is currently in the process of ramping up for the upcoming 2024 Olympics from Paris, which began with a win in an exhibition game vs Team Canada on Wednesday evening in Las Vegas. Team USA features several notable players, including Stephen Curry, Kevin Durant, and LeBron James, who is making his first Olympics appearance this year since 2012.
One of the other biggest names on the roster had been that of Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard; however, it was recently revealed that the two time NBA champion would be withdrawing himself from the roster in order to focus on getting healthy for the upcoming 2023-24 NBA season, which is set to begin in just over three months.
One person who was saddened to see that was Stephen Curry, who recently spoke on his hope for Kawhi Leonard's future after the news was announced.
“Kawhi gave it everything he had when he was preparing the last few days of camp, and there was conversation mutually between USAB leadership and Kawhi and his team just to make sure he was set up for success,” said Curry, via Michael Scotto of HoopsHype on X, the social media platform formerly referred to as Twitter. “Obviously they're tough decisions. I know he wanted to play, but it's one of those things where he wished us luck and wanted us to go get the gold… Hopefully, for the long term, he’s in a good place because the game needs him. When he’s not out there, you miss an all-time great player. We hope he’s ready for this season.”
Leonard indeed has a storied injury history dating back to the end of his tenure with the San Antonio Spurs in the late 2010s. He was miraculously able to stay healthy in leading the Toronto Raptors to the NBA championship in 2019 but has since sealed with several ailments during his time with the Clippers, including a knee injury this year that kept him out for the majority of Los Angeles' first round playoff exit vs the Dallas Mavericks.
Can Team USA still win gold?
Even without Leonard, Team USA would figure to be the clear cut favorites to win gold at the Paris Olympics. In addition to the three headed monster of Durant, Curry, and James, the team also boasts stars like Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, and Anthony Edwards, giving them immense versatility on both ends of the floor and the ability to play different styles of basketball depending on the opponent and style of the game.
Of course, the game now is more globalized than it has arguably ever been, and several teams from other countries boast immense NBA-level talent, including Team Canada, who had several current NBA starting-caliber players on its roster. This being the case, Team USA certainly won't be able to take it easy or assume that they can coast to a gold medal victory when the Olympics begin.
In any case, the Olympics are set to get underway later this month from Paris.
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