Grant Hill reveals why Draymond Green was left off player pool for 2024 Olympics
With roughly six months until the start of the 2024 Paris Olympics, USA Basketball released their 41-player pool earlier this week.
Barring something unforeseen, the 12 players who eventually make the team will be picked from the player pool, which will be trimmed down more and more leading up to the event. The list was headlined by LeBron James–who last played for Team USA in the Olympics in 2012–Stephen Curry (who’s never played in the Olympics), reigning MVP Joel Embiid and superstar forward Kevin Durant.
Though one notable name who was left off the player pool was star Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green, who was on the 2016 and 2020 Olympic squads and helped clinch Team USA’s third and fourth straight Gold Medals, respectively.
Grant Hill, an 18-year NBA veteran and current Team USA Basketball executive director, explained why Green was left off the 41-player pool this week.
“His contributions have been significant, and he is a real part of the legacy of this organization for his excellence,” Hill said Wednesday in a Zoom call, according to ESPN NBA insider Brian Windhorst. “But I think just in lieu of sort of what’s transpired this year, we made a decision to not have [Green] on this list with this particular point in time with the process.
“He’s working through some things both on and off the court … So we at USA Basketball wanted to support him on his journey and we just didn’t feel that playing over the summer gives him the best opportunity to do what he needs to do.”
Green, 33, has been suspended twice this season, most recently because he struck Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic in the face during a Dec. 12 meeting. He missed 12 games due to the suspension before being reinstated, not even a month after getting suspended five games for putting Timberwolves center Rudy Gobert in a chokehold during a Nov. 14 scuffle between Klay Thompson and Jaden McDaniels.
Draymond Green has since played two games upon return–17 for the season. It’s been a drama-filled couple of seasons for Green on- and off-the-court. So it’s likely best for everyone involved that he doesn’t partake in this summer’s Olympics, which will be loaded with star talent no matter how you slice the pie.
Other players who were not on the player pool are: Bradley Beal, Tyrese Maxey, Zion Williamson, Ja Morant–who suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in early January shortly after his return–Khris Middleton, DeMar DeRozan, Julius Randle, Fred VanVleet and Zach LaVine, among others.
“In a perfect world, you’d like to have some balance,” Hill said this week, according to NBA reporter Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “It’s ultimately about winning, but you also want to continue with the pipeline and continue cultivating young players in the program. And, so, there’s a lot of forces there, and you’re trying to sort of balance it all.
“It’s making sure that we have incredible talent, but we also have pieces that fit and give us a chance against everything we’ll see during this experience.”
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