© David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
DeMar DeRozan has no issue about exclusion in Team USA's preliminary pool for the 2024 Olympics: "It's all good"
The United States men's national basketball program officially announced last Tuesday the 41 players in its potential selection pool for this year's Olympic Games in Paris. Headlining the stacked, star-studded list are LeBron James, Kevin Durant, Stephen Curry, Kawhi Leonard, and the reigning NBA MVP Joel Embiid.
Only one Chicago Bull made it to the cut, as Alex Caruso was considered by Team USA who can help their Summer Games endeavors. Though he isn't a bona fide star like the majority in the list, A.C. stands tall with his defensive tenacity, untiring hustle, and positive impacts that aren't being shown in the stat sheet.
From this, it's intriguing that both DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine weren't even called up for the American squad. But despite this, Deebo isn't upset about the exclusion of his name.
No issue with the exclusion
Although he's wondering about the selection process, DeMar isn't losing some sleep knowing that the players who made it to the pool are well deserved for the golden opportunity to represent the Stars and Stripes.
But if USA Basketball invited him, Deebo insisted that he'd fully accept the honor to play in Paris.
"Nobody asked me nothing. I was curious on how they even went about it. But it’s all good. I’m happy for whoever got in the pool. If I was asked, I would’ve been a part of it for sure," DeRozan said. "But being a part of it for 2014 and 2016 was definitely an honor.”
FIBA & Olympic Deebo
DeRozan was an active participant in Team USA’s international basketball duties in which he helped his nation in clinching gold medal finishes for both the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
In FIBA, he appeared for nine games and averaged 4.8 points, 1.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game. In the Olympics, he registered 6.6 points, 1.4 rebounds and 0.9 assists in seven matches.
