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Cleveland Cavaliers power forwardKevin Lovewill not travel to theTokyo Olympicsafter spending 10 days training with Team USA.
The 32-year-old former NBA champion withdrew from the Summer Olympics on Friday, citing his physical health. Love is continuing to nurse a right calf injury that caused him to miss a portion of the 2020-2021 season.
“I am incredibly disappointed to not be heading to Tokyo with Team USA, but you need to be at absolute peak performance to compete at the Olympic level and I am just not there yet,” Love told the outlet.
This isn’t the only setback for USA Basketball ahead of the Olympics, which are set to begin on July 23 (the team will play its first game on July 25).
Team USA was scheduled to play Australia in itsfourth exhibition gameon Friday night, but the game was canceled “out of an abundance of caution,” likely in relation to the players who entered health and safety protocols.
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Australia beat Team USA 91-83 on Monday for its second straight loss, coming days after Nigeria’s 90-87 victory against the star-studded team. It was only the third time since 1992 that Team USA lost back-to-back games.
Headlining this year’s U.S. team are current NBA starsKevin Durant, Damian Lillard and Draymond Green.
To learn more about all the Olympic hopefuls, visitTeamUSA.org. The Tokyo Olympics begin July 23rd on NBC.
source: people.com
