Team USA basketball: Bradley Beal in health and safety protocols, Olympic status in danger, compared

Washington Wizards goaltender Bradley Beal entered health and safety protocols at Team USA training camp, which put his return to the game in the air, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania and Joe Vardon. It’s unclear how exactly Team USA’s protocols, or those that will be in place at the Olympics, will differ from the protocols the NBA put in place during the season, but the Olympics aren’t taking much risk in the midst of this. pandemic. There won’t be any fans at the Olympics themselves, and now, while nothing has been definitively decided, there seems to be a chance Beal isn’t around either.

The US team still has two exhibition games in Las Vegas. They will play Australia on Friday and Spain on Sunday. The matches themselves begin on Sunday, July 25 when the US team faces France. Matches against Iran and the Czech Republic will follow, and then, assuming the United States team makes it that far, the knockout stage begins on August 3.

Beal is a first-time Olympian, but it was an obvious choice after a spectacular season in which he narrowly missed the scoring title race against Stephen Curry. He’s a three-time NBA All-Star who made his first All-NBA team last season. He won gold medals playing for Team USA’s U16 team at the FIBA ​​Americas Championship and his U17 team at the World Championships.

But if Beal does miss the Olympics, the US team will be put in an even more precarious position. Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton are still playing in the NBA Finals, so they haven’t joined the squad yet. This will put even more pressure on the Select team members currently in Vegas to contribute, especially if one of them is to be promoted to the permanent Tokyo roster. Saddiq Bey, Darius Garland and Keldon Johnson got such promotions for exhibition games, but it’s unclear who would replace Beal if he were to be absent.

For the moment, nothing has been decided. Beal’s status is uncertain and Team USA can only hope that he can participate in the games and that none of his teammates risk being placed in protocols with him.