Opening ceremonies for the Tokyo Olympics this summer are scheduled for July 24. USA Basketball plans to open its training camp for Team USA in Las Vegas prior to July 4.
That is, if the Olympics are going to take place as scheduled. And if NBA players will be participating, many may be busy with the NBA playoffs, which could start in June and run into August.
The novel coronavirus pandemic has upended live in the United States and around the globe, and the Olympics are on that list. Nobody knows what is going to happen next. In the face of that, Warriors coach Steve Kerr, an assistant to Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich, said in a news conference Tuesday they are moving ahead as if everything will go off as planned. Via Nick Friedell of ESPN:
“Pop and I have spoken a couple of times over the last week or so,” Kerr said Tuesday during a conference call with reporters. “And everything’s just up in the air. There’s no sense of whether things are going to be delayed or anything. We’re all kind of sitting here wondering what’s going to happen, and so is the rest of the world. We’re just going to plan as if this is going to happen, and we’re going to try and put together a roster, and that’s all we can do.”
The International Olympic Committee has expressed confidence the games will go on as scheduled and they are not making and changes yet. They may be the only confident ones.
If the NBA plays out its season and extends into July and August, it would limit who USA Basketball would be able to bring, and that would hit top players from other qualified nations as well. USA Basketball put together a list of 44 finalists for the Tokyo Olympics, but what players could go — and what players would go — remains up in the air.
Nobody knows what’s next.
Which sums up nearly every aspect of life in the United States and much of the globe right now.
Hello, my name is Jack Sparrow. I'm a 50 year old self-employed Pirate from the Caribbean.
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