By Eurohoops Team/ info@eurohoops.net
Boston Celtics guard Derrick White has emerged as a player who may replace Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard on the Olympic Games roster of Team USA if the latter won’t be healthy enough to play in the tournament, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
“Derrick White looms as a real potential candidate for Team USA in the Summer Olympics if Kawhi Leonard is unable to successfully rehab back from that knee inflammation that kept him on the back end of the playoffs,” Wojnarowski said.
Leonard’s knee issues forced him to play only in Games 1 and 3 of the Western Conference first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks. The Clippers fell 2-4 to the Mavs as Dallas won Game 5 and 6 after their opponents tied the series 2-2.
If Leonard doesn’t manage to rehabilitate his knee in time to join USA Basketball in Paris and White gets picked as his replacement, then the Celtics player will play for his national team for a second time after the 2019 World Cup.
After finishing fourth in the 2023 World Cup, Team US amassed a group of the best players available right now for the Olympics like LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Steph Curry, Jayson Tatum, Joel Embiid, Anthony Edwards, Devin Booker and Anthony Davis, among others.