After a difficult first two weeks of camp, which saw two players withdraw and the USA men’s basketball team suffer two shocking losses to Nigeria and Australia, things began to look up for the USA men’s basketball team as they finished their time in Las Vegas with their best performance yet against a very good Spain squad on Sunday.
However, the good times were short-lived, as the team was down a man for their travel to Tokyo on Monday after Zach LaVine was placed on USA Basketball’s health and safety regulations.
The good news is that they appear to feel LaVine will be able to clear protocols in time to rejoin the team, but he is now Team USA’s third player to have to go through them. Because of his predicament, Bradley Beal had to withdraw from the Olympics, but Jerami Grant was able to clear regulations and return for Sunday’s game against Spain. Because Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, and Khris Middleton are still in the NBA Finals, the American men will arrive in Tokyo with only eight players, and LaVine will be quarantined in Las Vegas before rejoining the squad.
