LeBron James has cemented his place in basketball folklore after showing up game after game to win the tense 2016 NBA Finals in the last game of the series. So for some people, James is a shoe in for the United States men's national basketball team for this summer's Olympics in Brazil. However, shocking news comes as the 2016 NBA Finals MVP has withdrawn from consideration from participating in this year's Olympics.
James joins a growing list of NBA stars who have taken themselves out of consideration from their respective national teams due to various health reasons. Golden State Warriors star point guard Stephen Curry has withdrawn citing the reason of needing to rest his various knee and leg injuries. Golden State and Australia center Andrew Bogut has also withdrawn due to the Zika Virus scare in Brazil. "I could use the rest," James tells Cleveland.com.
Not to worry though as Team USA will still field a 12-man cast of world class players on the hard court this year, as they look to secure a third consecutive Olympic gold. Kyrie Irving, Cleveland's biggest contributor in this year's finals aside from LeBron James, has been named in the United States' 12-man roster. This is great news as Irving was named the most valuable player in the 2014 edition of the FIBA World Cup.
Also included in the team is New York Knicks' talisman Carmelo Anthony, who looks set to be the be the first man who has played for the United States' men's basketball team in four summer Olympics, per reports from Business World Online. Oklahoma City's Kevin Durant will also be going to Rio coming off an impressive performance in the 2012 Olympics, wherein he set an Olympic record of scoring an average of 19.5 points per game.
The final squad contains 9 NBA All-Stars, according to NBA.com. The team going to Rio consists of the aforementioned Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, and Kyrie Irving as well as Harrison Barnes, Jimmy Butler, DeMarcus Cousins, DeMar DeRozan, Paul George, Draymond Green, DeAndre Jordan, Kyle Lowry, and Klay Thompson.
