Damian Lillard doesn’t sound like someone who will attend Team USA’s minicamp next month.
He might not be the only one.
Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports:
USA Basketball is still uncertain if John Wall and Dwight Howard will attend the upcoming mini-camp in Las Vegas, a source told Yahoo Sports
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) July 30, 2015
USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said camp attendance – though not necessarily on-court participation – was mandatory for players to make the 2016 Olympic team.
If Dwight Howard and John Wall don’t show up, they’re probably out for the Rio Games. They surely know that, though Colangelo’s rules are only as binding as he wants them to be. Given how he has run the program in the past, though, I wouldn’t test him.
Wall didn’t make the World Cup roster last year, and he wasn’t pleased. There was a report Howard intended to play in the 2014 World Cup and maybe 2016 Olympics, but he wasn’t even in the player pool for the World Cup.
Both Howard and Wall are talented enough to make Olympic roster. But if they don’t attend the minicamp, that’s probably the end of their association with USA Basketball.