For every NBA heavyweight on the Olympicrosterfor Tokyo , there ’s another whose absence is just as blazing . Kevin Durant is there;LeBron Jamesisn’t . Draymond Green is there ; Stephen Curry is n’t .
It ’s in spades disappointing when keyNBAplayers choose out ofOlympicappearances , and it might even make you think a red like Sunday’sagainstFrance deserves a disavowal along the lines of “ Yeah , but some of our best athletes were n’t there . ” But the trend is n’t young . JamesandCurryboth declined to play in the 2016 Olympics , too , for example ; Dwyane Wadewithdrewhis name from the 2012 roster ; and so on .
Thereasonis almost always for residue and recovery . If you make it to the NBA Finals ( which James and Curry both did in 2016 , and James and Wade did in 2012 ) , you ’re not finished until about mid - June . grooming for the next NBA season usuallystartssomewhere between August and September , which does n’t give you much time to turn to whatever harm you ’ve muscled through during the playoffs . practice for and competing in the Olympics falls mighty in the middle of your time off — and if you need surgery , like Wade did in 2012 , it ’s either poorly - advised or downright unimaginable to jibe the Olympics into your schedule . The timeline is even tighter this year because of the pandemic : The NBA Finalsendedon July 20 , and a few players had to skip a plane to Tokyo mere day later .
Even if their injuries are mild enough to allow a musician to compete at the Olympics , they might exacerbate any underlying yield , which could then interfere with their next NBA season . For athletes whose primary focus is making it to the NBA Finals , sacrifice relief and recovery time just is n’t deserving the danger . When James denote his plans to skip the Rio Olympics in 2016 after a operose seven - game Finals series against the Golden State Warriors ( James clinch the win for the Cleveland Cavaliers ) , he simplysaid , “ I could use the residual . ”
But not every NBA player is looking to join Team USA , anyway . Dozens of themcompetefor their home country ’s squad — like the Dallas Mavericks ’ Luka Dončić ( Slovenia ) and the Los Angeles Lakers ’ Marc Gasol ( Spain ) . The Gallic team that just beat the U.S. tout six current NBA player , including the Utah Jazz ’s Rudy Gobert and the Boston Celtics ’ Evan Fournier .
