Executive director Grant Hill said the decision to send Kawhi Leonard home from training camp and replace him with Derrick White for the upcoming Olympics ultimately rested with Team USA.
— Team USA executive director Grant Hill said the decision to send LA Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard home from training camp and to replace him with Boston Celtics guard Derrick White on the roster for the upcoming Paris Olympic Games ultimately rested with Team USA itself.
“We just felt that we had to pivot, and not to get into the particulars, in terms of what went into the decision, but we just felt it was in our best interest, but also in the Clippers’ and Kahwi’s best interest, to move into a different direction”, Hill said Wednesday evening in a news conference before Team USA’s first exhibition game against Team Canada at T-Mobile Arena. “We tried. I think we all tried and we gave it a valiant effort, and unfortunately, we have to move forward.”
Asked directly whether that meant it was Hill’s, and by extension Team USA’s, decision to send Leonard home, he said, “We did. Ultimately he was sent home, but we were in conversation with the Clippers on that.”
Leonard’s status was up in the air coming into camp, after he missed the final three games of the Clippers’ first-round playoff series against the Dallas Mavericks with knee inflammation. Leonard said over the weekend that he wasn’t able to fully get back onto the court and work out normally until about two weeks before training camp began, at which point he said he finally believed he’d be able to take part in this year’s Olympics.
He arrived for the start of camp wearing a sleeve on his right leg and appearing to sport a slight limp, although he participated in each of the past four days of training camp.
“I think he wanted to be here, like all these guys want to be here, and we don’t take that lightly at all”, Hill said. “It speaks to the program and the opportunity, and so, personally speaking, I know what it’s like to want to do something and your body’s just not right.
