bingewatches

When the USA Basketball men’s roster arrived in Las Vegas for training camp earlier this month, the hope was that they would be able to quickly come together and build the continuity and collective confidence needed to make a run at a fourth straight gold medal when the Tokyo Olympics begin at the end of the week.

Unfortunately, the two weeks of USA camp has been anything but smooth on the men’s side with a pair of stunning losses to Nigeria and Australia, followed by the news that Bradley Beal would not be able to join the team in Tokyo after entering health and safety protocols, Jerami Grant had likewise entered protocols as a precautionary measure, Kevin Love was withdrawing from the team due to lingering issues with his calf injury, and they would have to cancel their second game with the Aussies due to their COVID issues.

Love and Beal were replaced by JaVale McGee and Keldon Johnson on the roster, surprising many as the two players selected. Some good news finally arrived on Sunday prior to their final exhibition with Spain, when ESPN’s Brian Windhorst reported that Grant was expected to clear protocols and be able to fly with the team to Tokyo later this week.

That’s some good news because it at least keeps Team USA from ending up with half of their roster in Tokyo being guys who haven’t played most of camp together. With Johnson having been with the main roster for the entirety of camp due to the absences of the three Finals players, he at least has built that continuity even if he wasn’t expecting to be on the squad for Tokyo. Still, they will have to integrate four new players into things in short order, as it has been anything but smooth sailing for the gold medal favorites.