Three members of the final USA Basketball men’s roster competing in the Tokyo Olympics are still busy with their day jobs — the Suns’ Devin Booker, and the Bucks’ Khris Middelton and Jrue Holiday are all playing in the NBA Finals. When that ends, they will all board a charter flight to Japan to wear the USA jersey.
However, Team USA has some exhibitions before that — starting Saturday against Nigeria — so it called up three members of the USA Select team to be active and available on the main squad for the exhibition games.
The three are:
• Saddiq Bey (Detroit Pistons/Villanova)
• Darius Garland (Cleveland Cavaliers)
• Keldon Johnson (San Antonio Spurs/Kentucky)
Four other players from the USA Select team will be around for the string of exhibition games and remaining practices.
• John Jenkins (Bilbao Basket, Italy/Vanderbilt)
• Josh Magette (Turkey/Alabama-Huntsville)
• Dakota Mathias (Philadelphia 76ers/Purdue)
• Cam Reynolds (Houston Rockets/Tulane)
The USA Select team was hit hard by injuries — the Timberwolves’ Anthony Edwards and Pistons’ Isaiah Stewart both had ankle injuries, while Timberwolves Naz Reid suffered an undisclosed injury. Miami’s Tyler Herro has been away from the team but the reason has not been disclosed. Also, Immanuel Quickley, Miles Bridges, and P.J. Washington were away from the team due to COVID-19 protocols (which are fairly strict as the team prepares to head to Tokyo for the Olympics).
The USA’s exhibition schedule is:
• July 10, Nigeria
• July 12, Australia
• July 13, Argentina
• July 16, Australia
• July 18, Spain
All the games are at the Michelob Ultra Arena in Las Vegas.