Paris (AFP)
Home team USA Kevin Love was forced to forfeit the Tokyo Olympics (23 July-8 August), insufficiently recovered from a right calf injury, he said. Friday.
“I'm incredibly disappointed not to go to Tokyo with + Team USA +, but you need to be in top form to compete in the Olympics and I'm just not there,” Love said in a commentary. press release sent to ESPN.
The presence of Kevin Love among the twelve players for the Games had surprised, as he had one of his worst seasons, with only 25 games played.
US coach Gregg Popovich said Love was "the perfect player to beat guys like Rudy Gobert".
This is the second forfeit recorded by 'Team USA' in the space of 24 hours, as full-back Bradley Beal, second-best NBA regular-season scorer with the Washington Wizards, was placed in Covid protocol and not will not be able to compete in the Games.
In addition, Jerami Grant, winger for the Detroit Pistons, was also placed as a precaution in Covid protocol.
The names of the replacements for Love and Beal, in the squad of twelve players to play the Games in Tokyo, have not been communicated.
The American selection has experienced an eventful Olympic preparation for ten days in Las Vegas (Nevada), beaten twice, by Nigeria (90-87) and Australia (91-83).
If they were then reassured by winning against Argentina (108-80), their match against Australia on the night of Friday to Saturday was canceled, in order not to take any risk with the Covid-19.
It is also deprived of three players (out of the twelve selected), since Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton (Milwaukee Bucks) play the NBA final, where the Bucks have equalized two wins over 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