Jrue Holiday will try to follow the path of his wife and win an Olympic gold medal.
Holiday has pledged to be part of the USA Basketball team that will participate in the Tokyo Olympics with his Milwaukee teammate Khris Middleton and Cleveland forward Kevin Love, a person familiar with the decision said. .
Holiday Middleton intends to play right now even if the Bucks reach the NBA Finals, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the team has not released the official lineup. The Tokyo Olympics begin next month.
It would be the first Olympians for Holiday and Middleton and the second for Love, who was part of the American basketball team that won the gold medal in London 2012.
Another gold medalist in 2012 was the player named Lauren Cheney at the time, who won her second consecutive gold medal as part of the women’s soccer team. She is now named after Lauren Holiday, after marrying Jrue in 2013.
Now it is her husband who is looking for the gold.
Jrue Holiday was part of the team that helped prepare for the Olympics in 2012 and has been a part of USA Basketball ever since, but never in such an important role as playing in Tokyo.
Middleton was part of the most recent senior team with coach Gregg Popovich “who also leads the team this time” that played the World Cup in 2019, when the team finished in a disappointing seventh place.
With Middleton, Holiday and Love the American team is close to completing the line-up for the Tokyo Games. Other players who have pledged to participate include Miami’s Bam Adebayo, Brooklyn’s Kevin Durant, Golden State’s Draymond Green, Washington’s Bradley Beal, Boston’s Jayson Tatum, Phoenix’s Devin Booker and Portland’s Damian Lillard.
Brooklyn’s James Harden also intends to play and is committed to the national team, although there is concern whether the hamstring injury “that left him out at times with the Nets in the postseason” will allow him to be part of the team. .
The US team begins their training on July 6 in Las Vegas.