More NBA stars have signified interest in playing in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
This is coming after Team USA’s performance in the recently concluded FIBA World Cup, where they took the 7th position, despite entering the game as defending champions for the second time in a row.
Part of the reason for their failure as put by most basketball enthusiasts, much to the chagrin of Coach Gregg Popovich, is that the team was filled with new guys who did not have the experience of the old ones. Some extreme views state that they lost because of “the lack of big names.”
Well, whatever the case is, the “big names” are slowly signifying their interest to compete in the 2020 games, and retain their title as the Olympic basketball champions after winning it in 2016.
One of the firsts to do so in the past weeks was Stephen Curry who stated that he has it in plans to compete in the Olympics, which would be his first appearance in that tournament. About that time, Damian Lillard also seemed hopeful of participating.
Now, we have seen other big stars declare interests. Houston Rockets’ star, James Harden, while speaking with ESPN at the Rockets Media Day said, “That’s one of my goals to represent the USA and represent this beautiful country.”
Harden is no newbie at presenting his country as he was in the 2012 Olympics and 2014 FIBA World Cup, where Team USA won both tournaments. Other stars include Jimmy Butler of Miami Heat who, although not quite certain, was “most definite” about playing in the competition.
Paul George of the LA Clippers and Anthony Davis of the LA Lakers are two other stars promising to show up in Tokyo in 2020. Lebron James expressed his disappointment over the FIBA performance while stating he “would love to” play in Tokyo, but that would be based on his performance at the new season.
It is a good thing to see stars coming to restore their image, and show the new guys how to do it better. We would have to wait until the selection stage to see who and who would go for sure.
Written by: Leon Osamor
