JaVale McGee and Keldon Johnson Join the United States Basketball Team at the Olympics | Sports | Basketball

Changes within the men’s basketball team USA continued this Friday with the departure of the power forward Kevin Love and the incorporations of JaVale McGee and the guard-forward Keldon Johnson.

Love, of the Cleveland Cavaliers, who had generated controversy for his call to the national team, decided to retire before the United States delegation travels to Japan, considering that he had not acquired the necessary level he needed to compete.

Love’s resignation comes a day after USA Basketball announced the departure of the shooting guard Bradley Beal, of the Washington Wizards, after having been infected with Covid-19, while power forward Jerami Grant, of the Detroit Pistons, is also under the health and safety protocols after having been in contact with another positive case.

Beal, with no time to comply with the quarantine before the team travels to Japan next Monday, had to be discharged, while Grant could make the trip with the team. While the departure of Love puts an end to the controversy that arose after his selection that was seen by many as “unjustified”, based on the sports contribution he had had during the regular season, affected by injuries.

Love, through his agent, Jeff Schwartz, released a statement in which he said that he had not yet reached his best form after suffering a right calf injury that kept him out of competition for much of the season. regular.

“I am incredibly disappointed not to go to Tokyo with the United States team,” Love said in the statement. “But you need to be at peak performance to compete at the Olympic level and I am not there yet.” He would have been trying to get a second Olympic gold medal, having played for the United States in London in 2012. He was also on the team that won gold at the 2010 world championships.

That past USA Basketball experience helped him get selected to this list despite his difficult NBA season. Love missed 46 games due to injury and averaged 12.2 points in 25 regular season games.

Love, 32, had played in two of the Americans’ three exhibition games in Las Vegas, scoring a point. Love’s departure leaves the United States national team without any white players and for the first time in its history there will be an Olympic team made up of all its black components.