Paris (AFP)
American full-back Bradley Beal was forced to forfeit the Tokyo Olympics after his placement in Covid protocol, while his teammate Jerami Grant was also placed as a precaution in Covid protocol, the American Federation announced Thursday.
The name of Bradley Beal's replacement in the 12-man squad for the Tokyo Games has not been announced.
Full-back Stephen Curry, who occupies the same position as Beal, was reluctant to participate in the Games for a long time, and finally gave up on going to Japan.
A decision has to be made to replace Beal, likely among the NBA players who attended training camp in Las Vegas for the past ten days.
The American Federation does not specify if Beal, second leading scorer in the NBA regular season with the Washington Wizards behind Curry, has tested positive for Covid-19.
Jerami Grant, defensive winger of the Detroit Pistons, was placed "as a precaution" in Covid protocol.
These two placements in Covid protocol pose a great threat to the whole of Team USA, since Beal and Grant participated in the Olympic preparation of the Americans, which began with two friendly losses against Nigeria (90-87) and Australia. (91-83), before recovering against the Argentines, vice-world champions 2019, 108-80.
Beal was in the starting five for coach Gregg Popovich in those opening three games, scoring 10.3 points and taking 4.3 rebounds, all in an average of 29 minutes of play.
The American team for this Olympic preparation was already deprived of three players (out of the twelve selected), since Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) are selected by their franchises for the NBA final, where the Bucks tied at two wins all over against the Suns.
The Americans are due to head to Tokyo next week, with a first game scheduled for July 25, three days after a possible decisive Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
This first match in Tokyo will be against France, bronze medalists at the 2019 World Cup after beating Team USA in the quarter-finals.
© 2021 AFP