USA Basketball has more leeway to replace any of its 12 Olympic men’s players — should the albeit unlikely situation arise — given the unprecedented circumstances of the Tokyo Games.
“There’s much more flexibility this time around than ever in the past,” U.S. men’s national team managing director Jerry Colangelo said after the roster was announced Monday. “In the past, you had to have your roster in by particular date, and once that happened, you had no ability to replace players. Fortunately, all of the powers that be, and I’m referring to the International Olympic Committee, FIBA, etcetera, they understood, because of COVID, because of the compact-fullness of the two seasons, because of injuries, we needed flexibility.