Hours after announcing the dismissal of Bradley Beal due to the coronavirus, the United States basketball team canceled its next friendly in preparation for the Olympic Games on Friday against Australia.
“As a precaution, the exhibition game of the United States men’s basketball team against Australia … has been canceled due to health and safety protocols,” the US federation said Thursday in a brief statement.
In this way, the team led by Gregg Popovich will only play one more friendly in its Las Vegas (Nevada) camp against Spain on Sunday.
The federation has not given more details about the coronavirus tests applied to the team after Bradley Beal entered the prevention protocol on Wednesday.
This Thursday, the agency limited itself to confirming that Beal, the NBA’s second leading scorer of the season, will not compete in Tokyo and that power forward Jerami Grant (Detroit Pistons) also entered the protocol “as a precaution.”
According to US media, Jerami Grant has not tested positive for coronavirus and those responsible for the team are confident that he can comply with the protocols in time for the basketball tournament at the Games (July 23 – August 8).
Bradley Beal, 28, played the three preparation games played so far in the US camp in Las Vegas (Nevada), the last of them on Tuesday against Argentina.
After this clash, in which he played 30 minutes and scored 17 points, Beal participated in the press conference alongside veteran Gregg Popovich.
Beal’s resignation is known 10 days after the Americans play their first game in Tokyo on July 25 against France.
In addition to these problems, the United States has left many sporting doubts in its Olympic preparation by surprisingly falling in its first friendlies against Nigeria and Australia.
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