Chicago Bulls: LaVine to miss initial Tokyo flight in COVID-19 protocol
Bad news came the way of the Chicago Bulls‘ star shooting guard Zach LaVine ahead of his trip with the United States to Tokyo, Japan, this week for the 2020 Summer Olympic Games. LaVine was supposed to travel with Team USA to Tokyo early this week, but he got news about the COVID-19 protocol that also happened to him during the latter stages of the NBA regular season.
A report confirmed on the Twitter timeline of Shams Charania of Stadium/The Athletic on July 19 indicated that LaVine was placed under COVID-19 health and safety protocols early this week. But the tweet from Shams mentioned that USA Basketball hopes that LaVine will be able to travel to meet them later this week ahead of the Olympic opener this coming weekend.
Team USA is set to open up pool play in the Summer Olympics this coming weekend, specifically on July 25 against France. LaVine was able to play with Team USA in the final pre-Olympic exhibition game, which resulted in an 83-76 win over Spain on July 18.
Team USA's Zach LaVine has been placed under health and safety protocols and will not travel with the team to Tokyo today. USAB hopes LaVine will be able to join the team in Tokyo later this week.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 19, 2021
Zach LaVine has been placed under USA Basketball’s health & safety protocols & will not travel with the team to Tokyo today.
— USA Basketball (@usabasketball) July 19, 2021
We hope that Zach will be able to join the team in Tokyo later this week.
The move for LaVine to be placed in the COVID-19 health and safety protocols and to not travel with the team initially to Tokyo was also confirmed in an official release from USA Basketball.
Moreover, this was not a good start for LaVine in his first stint with the United States men’s basketball Olympic team. His game was starting to pick up in the latter stages of the pre-Olympic exhibition circuit, but he will have to disrupt some of that momentum with the health and safety protocol early this week.
LaVine was solid for Team USA in the single-digit win over Spain last week. He registered 13 points, two rebounds, and two assists, in one of his better shooting nights of the exhibition circuit for Team USA.
With Team USA already being down the star Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal for Tokyo (replaced by Keldon Johnson), not traveling with LaVine initially this week is a setback. Team USA also didn’t have the best run during the exhibition circuit, including stunning losses at the hands of Nigeria and Australia.
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Team USA is set to start off the run in Tokyo on July 25 against France. The rest of group that the United States will face in Tokyo includes Iran and the Czech Republic. LaVine will get to face his Bulls teammate and guard Tomas Satoransky when Team USA faces the Czech Republic.