It’s has turned into a blame game between Team USA and the Clippers when it comes to Kawhi Leonard withdrawing from the Olympics.
Los Angeles Clippers president of basketball operations Lawrence Frank says that despite that statement Team USA put out, LAC didn’t have a role in the decision to withdraw Kawhi from his first Olympics.
“It was USAB’s call, and I was, quite frankly, very disappointed with the decision,” Frank said to reporters. “Kawhi wanted to play. We wanted him to play.”
At the end of last week’s training camp in Vegas, USA Basketball informed the world they were replacing Leonard with Celtics guard Derrick White.
“Kawhi has been ramping up for the Olympics over the past several weeks and had a few strong practices in Las Vegas,” the statement released on July 10 reads. “He felt ready to compete. However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers determined it’s in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.”
Leonard has been dealing with knee inflammation and soreness, so many assumed his withdrawal was because of that.
But Frank isn’t convinced.
“I was there the first two practices,” Frank said when asked if Leonard had a setback with his knee injury. “He looked very good, was a full participant in everything that they did. I wasn’t there for the third practice, where ultimately, that was the point where they decided to go in a different direction. I expressed then, I really wished that they would have given Kawhi more time.
“We have the benefit of having been around Kawhi for five years to see his body, see where he’s at. He looked good to me. I know all the sacrifices he made in order to make this commitment to the Olympics. So it was very disappointing.”
After sending Kawhi home, USA Basketball managing director Grant Hill said after the decision that “we just had to pivot” and that we “all gave a valiant effort” for Leonard to play.
READ MORE: Derrick White Relishing Opportunity With Team USA
