Kawhi Leonard plans to play for Gregg Popovich again and pursue a gold medal.
Leonard said at the NBA All-Star Game in Atlanta on Sunday that he plans to compete with USA Basketball at the rescheduled Tokyo Olympics this summer – which would reunite him with Popovich.
Leonard spent his first seven seasons in the NBA with Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs, before switching to the Toronto Raptors and now the LA Clippers. Popovich will serve as head coach for the first time at the Olympics.
“My plan is to go,” Leonard said. He helped Popovich and the Spurs win the 2014 NBA Championship and was MVP of that season’s NBA Finals.
The Olympics can be a potentially tight schedule for Leonard. The Clippers will likely be among the contenders to win the Western Conference Final and play in the NBA Finals – which, if they play the full seven games, are currently scheduled to finish July 22.
The Tokyo Olympics kick off on July 23 and the US will play its first game against France on July 25.
“When I feel like it and I’m ready to go around that time, I’m going to play,” said Leonard.
USA Basketball is expected to complete a player pool of about 60 names in the not-too-distant future – many of them remnants of the 44 announced last year as members of the pool, a group that also includes Leonard. From there, a team will be selected, and the current plan is to bring that group to Las Vegas around July 1 to start the training camp and a series of exhibition games against other national teams.
US staff, including general manager Jerry Colangelo, men’s team director Sean Ford, Popovich and assistant coaches Lloyd Pierce, Steve Kerr and Jay Wright, have been talking for months about plans and contingencies – including which players they might want to wait for. as their NBA clubs go deep into the playoffs.
Many top NBA players said entering the 2019-2020 season they were considering Olympic plans before the pandemic hit and the Olympics were postponed for a year.
“A lot of people were in for 2020, but the pandemic alone killed pretty much everything,” Leonard said.