Fourteen months ago, Stephen Curry said his plan was to make his Olympic debut in Tokyo. Much has changed since then.
The Golden State Warriors star was asked Wednesday if the plan was still to play in the Olympics, now that they’re in 2021.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Curry said. “Very open-ended question, and I have no idea. That’s my best answer.”
Curry, 32 and a two-time NBA MVP, is the most accomplished player in the world yet to suit up at an Olympics.
He was on the 2010 and 2014 FIBA World Cup teams but was not among 20 finalists for the 2012 Olympic team.
Curry withdrew from 2016 Olympic consideration two months before the Rio Games, citing several reasons, including knee and ankle injuries.
Last season, Curry broke his left hand in the fourth game on Oct. 30, a month after saying he planned on the Tokyo Games. He returned in March and played one game before being sidelined by the flu and the Warriors season ending due to the coronavirus pandemic.
U.S. Olympic roster selection next summer will be more complicated than usual given a tighter turnaround from the end of the NBA season. A potential Game 7 of the NBA Finals will be the night before the Tokyo Opening Ceremony.
With a USA Basketball training camp earlier in July, it’s possible that the team 12-man Olympic team is decided during the early rounds of the NBA Playoffs. And possible that players still competing in the playoffs are not on the Olympic team.
The Warriors would have to make a massive improvement to return to the Finals -- where they appeared five straight years from 2015-19 -- given they had the league’s worst record when the pandemic halted last season. Rio Olympian Klay Thompson is out for the entire season with a right Achilles tear.
Curry isn’t the only premier point guard undecided on Tokyo. Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers, who has also yet to play at an Olympics, was also non-committal when asked Tuesday.
Other top point guards do have Olympic experience, including Kyrie Irving and Russell Westbrook in USA Basketball’s player pool as of last February.
OlympicTalk is on Apple News. Favorite us!