⏩ Olympics: Warriors’ Draymond Green among U.S. selections.
Chicago Bulls AllStar guard Zach LaVine and Detroit Pistons forward Jerami Grant are in, and injured Brooklyn Nets superstar James Harden is out.
The U.S. finalized its men’s basketball roster for the Tokyo Olympics on Wednesday.
With NBA scoring champion Stephen Curry pulling out earlier this week, Draymond Green will be the only Golden State player in Tokyo.
Of course, Warriors head coach Steve Kerr will be there, assisting new Olympic coach Gregg Popovich, who takes over for Mike Krzyzewski.
Even without Curry, the Americans will feature six of the top 10 NBA scorers from this season: Washington’s Bradley Beal (31.3 points per game), Portland’s Damian Lillard (28.8), LaVine (27.4), Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant (26.9), Boston’s Jayson Tatum (26.4) and Phoenix’s Devin Booker (25.6).
The rest of the 12man roster: Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Cleveland’s Kevin Love and Milwaukee’s Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton.
Durant is a twotime Olympic gold medalist, after being part of the 2012 and 2016 teams. Green also helped the U.S. win gold in 2016, Love in 2012.
There still could be changes. The team will not be officially complete until USA Basketball sends its roster to FIBA, something that won’t happen until next month.
Holiday, Middleton and Booker are still in the NBA playoffs. Game 7 of the NBA Finals may happen as late as July 22 — three days before the Americans open Olympic play in Tokyo against fellow medal favorite France, the nation that knocked the U.S. out of medal contention at the Basketball World Cup in China two years ago.
USA Basketball managing director Jerry Colangelo has said that contingencies are being made in case any players miss camp and have to arrive in Tokyo after the rest of the Olympic team because of their NBA playoff schedules.
Harden had hoped to play, but his hamstring injury suffered in the playoffs won’t heal in time.
3x3 basketball: WNBA players Kelsey Plum (Las Vegas), Stefanie Dolson (Chicago), Allisha Gray (Dallas) and Katie Lou Samuelson (Seattle), who were all part of the 5on5 national team pool, were chosen to represent the U.S. in the inaugural 3x3 competition in Tokyo.
“We’re going to introduce people around the world to a new sport,” Plum said.
The team qualified for the Olympics by winning a tournament in Austria. The men’s 3x3 team didn’t qualify for Tokyo.
The 3x3 game is played on a half court with a 12second shot clock, and the winner is the first team to score 21 points or to be leading at the end of a 10minute period. Baskets inside the arc are worth one point and shots outside it are worth two.
Women’s water polo: Stanford alums Maggie Steffens (Danville) and Melissa Seidemann (Walnut Creek) are officially going for their third consecutive women’s water polo Olympic gold medal after the 13player U.S. roster was announced.
Also making the team is Stanford junior Aria Fischer, who at age 17 at the 2016 Rio Games became the youngest female team sport athlete in U.S. Olympic history to win gold at a Summer Games. She also helped Stanford to the 2019 NCAA title.
Jamie Neushul, a threetime NCAA champion with Stanford (2014, ’15 and ’17), made her first Olympic team.
Another highlight of the U.S. roster is Stephania Haralabidis, 26, a Greek American who played at USC and made the switch to the U.S. in 2017. She is among five newcomers on the U.S. squad.
The addition of Haralabidis gives the already powerful U.S. a rare commodity on the international water polo scene: a lefthander. Because her strong side with the ball is different, she creates time for her teammates.
“Just having her in the pool opens other people up,” Steffens said.
Haralabidis helped the U.S. win its seventh consecutive World League Super Final last week in Greece. She scored 13 times as the U.S. swept its six matches to improve to 140 this year.