USA Basketball announced Wednesday morning that the former San Diego State player has been replaced on the 12-man roster by Boston Celtics guard Derrick White.
“Kawhi has been preparing for the Olympics for the past several weeks and has had some strong workouts in Las Vegas,” USA Basketball said in a statement from its pre-Olympic training camp at UNLV. “He felt ready to compete. However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers have determined that it is in their best interests to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than attending the Olympic Games in Paris.
Leonard, 33, missed the final eight games of the NBA regular season and most of the Clippers’ first-round series against Dallas with what was described as chronic inflammation caused by multiple surgeries on his right knee. He has taken two months off since the Clippers’ elimination, but the knee apparently did not respond as he hoped.
ALSO: The Clippers recently lost Paul George in free agency and they’re opening a $2 billion Intuit Dome in Inglewood. Owner Steve Ballmer, no doubt, was unwilling to risk further injury to the franchise’s face by an abbreviated Olympic tournament with six games in 14 days.
Leonard missed the end of the 2021 playoffs after tearing his ACL, then the entire 2021–22 season, then appeared in only two playoff games in 2023 after tearing the meniscus in the same knee. He played 68 regular-season games last season, his most since 2016–17, then shut it down midway through the playoff series against the Mavericks.
Still, a day earlier he had spoken optimistically about his career-long “dream” of adding the interlocking rings to his legacy.
“Just competing with these guys,” Leonard told the media Tuesday. “Seeing the city of Paris, seeing other Olympic Games (events) and rooting for the United States.”
Asked about his knee, he said, “Yeah, I think I’ll be fit tomorrow (against Canada).” Everything has been good till now. “It is in a neutral position and hopefully it will remain that way.”
On the advice he gives other athletes about returning from knee surgery, he said: “Just stay true to yourself, don’t skip any days on your rehabilitation and be patient. That’s all you can do. Anything can happen at any time.”
summer league
The NBA’s Las Vegas Summer League begins Friday, but former Aztec Keshad Johnson got a boost with the Miami Heat at the California Classic in San Francisco and Sacramento. In his first two games, the 6-foot-7 forward averaged 9.5 points, 4.5 rebounds and made 3 of 8 threes.
Nathan Mensah, Johnson’s teammate in the 2023 national championship game, also played in the California Classic for the San Antonio Spurs after spending most of his rookie season with the Charlotte Hornets. In three games, the 6-10 post averaged 6.3 points, 7.7 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.
Jadon Leddy is playing for the Minnesota Timberwolves, who along with the other 29 NBA franchises will begin their summer games in Las Vegas on Friday. The Spurs and Heat kick off on Saturday.
New Home
Keith Dinwiddie is on the move again. The former SDSU guard transferred to Weber State after two seasons as an Aztec, then to Division II Saint Mary’s of San Antonio last season.
Now he’s headed to Division II Chico State.
Dinwiddie was the Los Angeles City Section’s Player of the Year out of Fairfax High School, but never found his footing at SDSU, playing in 23 games over two seasons (and scoring once) with a high score of 13 points against NAIA St. Catharines. Starting off) participated. He started 11 games in an injury-plagued year at Weber State of the Big Sky Conference, then made 21 starts on a 12–16 Saint Mary’s team, averaging 10 points (with a high of 23) while shooting 37.9 percent from 3. Achieved.
Famous
The incoming new player is 7 feet tall David Majak He will drop his Americanized name and adopt his South Sudanese first name. thokbor, The proper pronunciation is thok-bor me-zhok… walk-on guard Ryan Schwarz Entered the transfer portal last spring but has opted to return to SDSU for 2024-25 as a fellow walk-on Cam Loin And desai lopez, brown grade transfer Kimo Ferrari Also technically a walk-on…Former Aztecs teammate matt bradley And Adam Seiko is hosting a one-day youth skills camp on July 25 at the OC Hoop Legends facility in Lake Forest. … Mountain West basketball media day, when the preseason poll will be released, is scheduled for Oct. 17 in Las Vegas.
Discover more from news2source
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
