(LAS VEGAS) — Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love has withdrawn from the US Olympic team, his agent told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
“I am incredibly disappointed to not be heading to Tokyo with Team USA,” Love said in a statement released by his agent Jeff Schwartz, “but you need to be at absolute peak performance to compete at the Olympic level and I am just not there yet.”
Love has been recovering from a calf injury that forced him to miss most of last season. He spent the past ten days with the team preparing in Las Vegas.
Love appeared in two of the three tune-up games, playing 15 minutes total, 3 minutes against Nigeria, and 12 minutes against Argentina. He scored a combined one point.
Team USA, which is going for its fourth straight Olympic gold medal, will now have to replace a second player. Washington guard Bradley Beal was placed in health and safety protocols and was forced to drop out of the games.
Detroit guard Jerami Grant was also put into protocol “out of an abundance of caution.”
Late Thursday night, USA Basketball announced it canceled its game against Australia on Friday.
Out of an abundance of caution, the USA Men’s National Team exhibition versus Australia on Friday has been cancelled.
The USA Women’s National Team’s matchup with Australia will be played at 2:30 PM ET on NBCSN.
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 16, 2021
Team USA starts its Olympic run on Sunday, July 25 against France.
Copyright © 2021, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.
