Kawhi Leonard WITHDRAWS from Team USA 🚨 ‘Disappointing, but not surprised’ – Zach Lowe | NBA Today

Kawhi Leonard WITHDRAWS from Team USA 🚨 ‘Disappointing, but not surprised’ – Zach Lowe | NBA Today

We Begin our show today with breaking news kawh Leonard will not play in the upcoming Paris Olympics for Team USA the Clippers forward will be replaced by Boston Celtics guard Derek white and in a statement released on Wednesday USA Basketball implied that Leonard’s decision it was influenced by the Clippers and Team USA officials after observing training camp in Las Vegas over the past three days so the statement read in part quote Kawai has been ramping up for the Olympics over the last several weeks and had a few strong practices in Las Vegas he felt ready to compete however he respects that USA basketball and the Clippers determined it’s in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season meaning the NBA season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris so with that Tim bontemp is joining us from Las Vegas where he’s been embedded with the Olympic Squad as a prepare for Vegas here for Paris rather Tim Kawai said recently he’d been rehabbing his knee over the past two months and he wasn’t sure whether or not he’d be able to play up until about two weeks ago when his tune changed and now it’s changed again so so what happened here well Malik I think as we as you laid out in that statement I think this was a joint decision made by the Clippers and timio and even Kawhi Leonard potentially himself with his situation with that knee coming off that playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks where as you remember he was out there in games two and three of that series and looked bad enough at that point that the Clippers had to sit him down for the remainder of that first round Series against the Dallas Mavericks because they did not like the way kawhai looked in that game three when he didn’t look like himself frankly at all and over the past few days here in Camp obviously Terron Lou Clippers head coach is one of Steve Kerr’s assistant with Team USA Lawrence Frank the president of basketball operations and Mark Hughes another senior member of the Clippers front office was on hand here in Los Angeles to watch kawhai closely with Team USA and he showed up with a big sleeve on that right leg he had a bit of a limp when he walked in and as you said it was only a couple of weeks ago when kawhai felt like he was going to be in a good enough shape to participate in these Paris Olympics and that’s why a month ago our agent wowski reported that Derek white was going to be the replacement for Kawhi Leonard if he was not able to go so it’s not exactly a shock that we’ve gotten to this point where as Team USA is about to depart for Abu Dhabi on Thursday that this is the moment when if you’re going to make a decision like this this is the time you would make it and clearly after qu Leonard gave it his best to try to be ready to play in the Paris Olympics everybody got together and decided the right thing to do was to have him stay home get ready for the Clippers going into their new season in their new Arena the in Dome this fall and have Derek white replace him on this Team USA roster yeah shock I don’t know is is what I felt seeing that this morning Tim maybe a little bit of disappointment for kawi Leonard knowing that he absolutely wants to be able to represent his country and now this is the decision that has been made you mentioned Derrick White the replacement of course for Leonard here what what can you share about the process that he’s now going through needing to ramp up for Paris yeah Malik I I’d Echo that out just really quickly on kawhai too we spent time around him this weekend you know get him getting here getting with the Team USA doing a bunch of Media stuff he seemed very excited his teammates seemed excited about being around him they several guys joked he’s the you know the guy who’s the funniest guy on the team which is not really what people think about with Kawai so it is a shame he’s not able to play but as for Derek white this obviously been a whirlwind several weeks for him he just signed a massive extension a few days ago to remain with the Boston Celtics for the next several years he obviously won an NBA title last summer and this week he’s been in Parker Colorado his hometown running his Camp his annual camp in the summer and he was supposed to go to the esps tomorrow in Los Angeles and obviously he will not be doing that now as he’s getting ready to join Team USA in Abu Dhabi on the next portion of their journey through this five-game exhibition schedule he won’t be with the team tonight here in Las Vegas but as we saw during the playoffs and throughout this season with Boston Derrick White one of the best two-way guards in the NBA he and he and Drew holiday both on the all defensive team this year and he will slot right into this group as an elite player on the defensive end guy who could space the floor and play off the ball and hit threes really should fit in seamlessly with this group replacing kawh Leonard but as we said obviously disappointing for kawhai he’s not able to finish out this run and be part of this group going to the Paris Olympic Games in a few weeks well the esp’s red carpet loss is the US men’s roster gain Tim bonts thank you so very much we’re going to see you a little bit later in the show I want to bring in Chana gum zacko into the conversation this is disappointing it’s just a bummer here for Kawhi Leonard Zach what was your reaction to learning he would not be able to head to Paris with the Team USA here disappointment but certainly not surprise and it just reinforces my confusion about the Clippers drawing a line in the sand in the fourth year with Paul George because it just seems unlikely at this point that you’re ever going to get more than 60 whatever games out of Kawai in a season if that and in the past when that happened you could lean on Paul Paul George or Paul George and James Harden to keep your team afloat Paul George is gone James Harden is back a host of role players are in Paul George’s place what happens now if and when Kawai is out for 20 or 25 games and by the way you don’t even control your own draft pick for the next several seasons because of the OKC trade that paired Paul George and kawhai and then the James Harden trade on top of that I just will never really fully understand what the Clippers were doing doing deciding yeah we’ll pay you in the end what Kawai got for 3 years but that fourth year no no no and we’re willing to risk going into mediocrity or worse in the meantime I just never really understood it and this just reinforces that and on Kawai he’s one of the best players of the last 15 or 20 years you want him to play when he’s a two-way Force at his best there’s just nobody like him in the NBA and I just wish we could see that guy consistently because he’s one of my favorite players to watch I think the hardest thing to reconcile why this is a big bumber for kawhai is that for a pro athlete there are two things that you really want you want to win a championship and you also want to win an Olympic gold and represent your country but one thing we have also realized especially on the men’s side they are so talented that it’s not necessarily a requirement for your legacy to win an Olympic goal it is something that is icing on the cake something that has separated a lot of Legends but I think there is a prioritization on him winning an NBA championship given the sacrifices and all the different ways that the circumstances have have you know built themselves up to with the Clippers the investment they made in him the investment the Clippers have made overall in themselves I think that’s hard and also he’s won championships before but still the pressure is on him and it’s hard when you come off of a difficult season ending the way you did to go and expend yourself more knowing that there’s more to come 82 more games and then trying to fulfill those expectations it’s a tough one exactly and I think I think we’d feel differently if he never went to join the Olympic roster at all right if he bowed out earlier and said you know what I think we’re just going to focus on this it just feels like it’s adding insult to injury again here for the clippers for a guy who hasn’t been able to finish the season by finish the season I mean be able to play through the playoffs since the bubble and what happened in the NBA bubble well he got four months off beforehand essentially to be able to rest his body so that he could Gear Up midseason again essentially to be able to complete the season yeah and In fairness he has won NBA championships in two different organizations whether it’s the Spurs or the Raptors and he’s trying to do so with the clippers but we do as athletes have decency bias in the last few years it’s been hard because I think that’s what people remember the falling short the not being available and going to the Olympics probably is is would be great but if it was detrimental to the overall goal of winning a championship with the Clippers I think that’s where the scrutiny comes right and as act said opening up a new Arena all of those factors for the Clippers is just hard to feel good about that Pursuit right now um speaking of in the world of of social media it’s always a little bit of a it’s risky business if you wanted to send out a tweet or something before maybe check around your surroundings ask Eric bledo you could be in a hair salon saying you don’t want to be there and then people make a whole big thing out of it but it was rather curious that less than an hour after Mark Spears reported that Derrick White would be replacing Kaw Leonard on Team USA I’m not say he might have been busy their teammates too yeah booked and busy Jaylen Brown this is what he posted me uh what do we call this the pondering monacle Emoji yeah I was going to say like it’s like the Monopoly man yeah there you go there there are three Celtics on the Olympic Squad none of them are the finals MVPs do you think that Derrik white was the right choice to round out this roster I do think that availability is a very important thing and if jayen is not there you know it’s a little bit easier to go with what you know it’s like hey can you come here but also it’s easy when Derek white is someone that is the ultimate plug-and play player per se you know he led the Celtics in plus minus it may not be the sexiest because Jaylen Brown is literally the finals MVP but he also had a career high year on the Celtics with 5.2 assists so he’s the type of guy that you don’t have to worry as a replacement that you know it changes the calculus of the nucleus but still like it’s a win-win scenario Dereck white is going to be in a position to succeed Jaylen Brown would have been a great position to succeed as well as someone who has been in the pool like some of these factors are not so easy to decipher it’s like oh like I should have gotten the call but it’s like we sort of have this guy right here in our back pocket that can join us right here tomorrow like sometimes that happens especially when it is Replacements multiple factors here Zach what do you think first of all which of us which NBA player is going to bring back the monacle let’s make somebody’s look be the monacle every day you’re going to be the monacle guy okay second of all this comes down to Jaylen Brunson Jaylen Brown and Derek white as for Brunson we’ve got Steph we’ve got Tyrese halber I don’t think we need another small guard Jaylen Brown might be a better player straight up than Derek white he is the finals MVP if you want to default to that that’s fine but I actually think given all the ball dominant Wings Team USA already has Tatum Durant Edwards and on and on I think Derek white is the right choice I think his passing his cutting his screening his playmaking just the pace with which he gets things moving is exactly what Team USA needs it’s why pop loved him it’s why Steve cerr loves him I think he’ll fit right in I think this is a perfectly fine choice and Derek white is on his way as Tim Bon have just reported to Abu Dhabi where he will join the team [Music] he

On NBA Today, Tim Bontemps reports Kawhi Leonard withdrawing from Team USA before Zach Lowe, Chiney Ogwumike join Malika Andrews react to the news while debating whether Derrick White or Jaylen Brown should have been called up.

✔️ Subscribe to ESPN+ http://espnplus.com/youtube
✔️ Get the ESPN App: http://www.espn.com/espn/apps/espn
✔️ Subscribe to ESPN on YouTube: http://es.pn/SUBSCRIBEtoYOUTUBE
✔️ Subscribe to NBA on ESPN on YouTube: http://bit.ly/SUBSCRIBEtoNBAonESPN
✔️ Watch ESPN on YouTube TV: http://es.pn/YouTubeTV