Paris 2024 Olympic Games Kawhi Leonard has withdrawn from the tournament

A few days before the start of the activity at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the player of the Los Angeles Clippers decided to resign from his presence in the biggest event of the sport.

The Olympic Games are just around the corner and we already know the 12 National Teams that will be chasing gold in the most important tournament in sport. The United States, a strong candidate to win a medal, suffered a heavy defeat. On Wednesday morning, USA Basket made Kawhi Leonard’s departure from the official roster. As the organization explained, it has a joint agreement with the Los Angeles Clippers.

“Kawhi has been ramping up his preparations for the Olympics over the past few weeks and had some strong training in Las Vegas. He feels ready to compete. However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers have decided that it is in it’s in his best interest to spend the rest of the summer preparing for next season instead of participating in the Paris Olympics”

The former San Antonio Spurs and Toronto Raptors have had knee problems in recent years and the Los Angeles franchise feared it could worsen as the tournament continued. This would have been the player’s debut in the American jersey, the same situation for Joel Embiid, who decided between the North American country and France..

The replacement:

It’s clear that it didn’t take long for the United States to find a player to replace Leonard. This is Derrick White, player for the Boston Celtics. This way, the eventual NBA champions will have three players on the USA Basket roster, joining Tatum and Holiday. The guard is an important piece during the play-offs and finals. White is one of the best defenders in the league; was part of the Best Second Defensive Quintet.