Clippers star Kawhi Leonard said he plans to play on Team USA during this summer’s Tokyo Olympics regardless of how far his team plays in the NBA’s upcoming postseason.
“Right now my plan is to go,” Leonard said Sunday, during a videoconference with reporters hours before the NBA held its All-Star Game in Atlanta, where Leonard will start for the team captained by Giannis Antetokounmpo. “It doesn’t really matter on the success that we have. If I feel up to it and feel ready to go around that time then I’m going to play.”
How players whose teams advance deeply in the playoffs will be able to take part in the Olympics, too, is a thorny, unresolved question. The playoffs are scheduled to end July 22. The Olympics’ men’s basketball tournament is scheduled to run from July 23 through Aug. 7, with the U.S. men opening preliminary round play July 25 against France. In the past a final 12-man roster has been due in the weeks before the games open.
In January, USA Basketball sent invitations to around 60 players interested in being included in the pool from which the team will be selected.
Last year, Leonard and teammate Paul George expressed interest in playing with Team USA and were later named finalists for the 2020 Olympic team, only for the Summer Games to be postponed one month later because of the pandemic. George won a gold medal at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics; Leonard has not represented the U.S.
Organizers are continuing to plan to hold the Games,…
