Cleveland Cavaliers forward Kevin Love is withdrawing from Team USA and will not travel to Tokyo for the Olympics, his agent, Jeff Schwartz, told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Friday.
Love spent 10 days with Team USA in Las Vegas preparing for the Games but is still returning to full form from a right calf injury that kept him out a significant part of the NBA season.
“I am incredibly disappointed to not be heading to Tokyo with Team USA,” Love said in a statement released by Schwartz, “but you need to be at absolute peak performance to compete at the Olympic level and I am just not there yet.”
Team USA will now work to replace two players prior to its Olympic opener July 25. Washington Wizards star Bradley Beal was forced to drop out of the Olympics after entering the health and safety protocol earlier this week.
USA Basketball also announced late Thursday night that the men’s basketball exhibition game against Australia scheduled for Friday night in Las Vegas had been canceled “out of an abundance of caution.” Team USA’s final exhibition game is scheduled for Sunday against Spain, with a charter to Japan set for Monday.