PARIS: To the point of nonsensical absurdity, Mikal Bridges of the Brooklyn Nets stated he had forgotten the Games would be held in Paris when a French reporter inquired about his aspirations to play for Team USA at the Olympics this summer.
Following the Nets’ practice in a suburb of Paris on Wednesday, Bridges was sitting in front of a large group of primarily French reporters in anticipation of their game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday.
The NBA’s visit to Paris is huge—Thursday’s matchup will mark the league’s third regular-season match in France—and this week’s major side subject of conversation is the impending Paris Games, where the league’s finest talents are anticipated to represent their nations.
Since the USA’s victory over France in the Tokyo Olympic finals, American athletes have been discussing Paris, and Bridges, who was part of the United States squad that qualified for the 2024 Olympics at the World Cup last summer, had undoubtedly not forgotten. This is the type of deflection a player could employ to sidestep a question he doesn’t want to answer, such as when he feels as though he is privy to information that isn’t yet public.
Following the more extensive scrum, Bridges told The Athletic, “Just waiting to see — if (the invite) comes, it comes.” “I think I don’t focus on it too much because I’m so focused on trying to understand everything about this (the Nets).”
To be honest, that was a far more logical response. In reality, though, Team USA hasn’t sent out any official invitations for its 12-man squad for Paris, according to Bridges and several league sources.
However, according to those sources, before January ends, USA Basketball will start contacting possible possibilities. They will go through 35 to 40 names on a master list of players, the majority of them are seasoned Olympic or World Cup players.
The list, which is anticipated to be released in the upcoming days or weeks, is reported to include at least a few players from the 2023 World Cup squad that placed fourth last summer.
In the past, USA managing director Grant Hill and head coach Steve Kerr have proposed doing away with “player pools” and said that, in the current day, it would be more efficient for the American national team to send out invitations directly to players rather than inviting a bigger group of players to try out. For example, USA Basketball assembled the World Cup team without a pool, and it was generally assumed that the Olympics would use the same methodology. But starting in 2024, women’s basketball will still employ the player-pool method.
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