When Bradley Beal and Kevin Love had to drop from the Team USA roster, there was much speculation about who would take their place.
Eventually, the decision-makers settled on JaVale McGee and Keldon Johnson — two players who aren’t exactly star-tier.
The picks led to many questions, as countless skeptics argued that there were better players they could have added.
One such player is Julius Randle, who was a first-time All-Star in 2021. On paper, he seems like the perfect candidate for Team USA consideration but was strangely overlooked.
Marc Berman of The New York Post explained why:
“The U.S. Olympic team, in search of two replacement players for Tokyo, never made Knicks All-Star power forward Julius Randle an offer, according to multiple industry sources.
One USA source said its brain trust heavily discussed making Randle an offer but decided to go this route, feeling the roster didn’t have a true shot-blocker on it.”
They went with a very strategic approach, choosing to fill the roster with their biggest needs instead of just grabbing the best available talent.
After losing two exhibition games, it became apparent that Team USA is very beatable, and bringing in a traditional big like McGee should help strengthen their interior presence.
Nonetheless, they’ve still got some work to do if they want to hoist the Gold medal by the time it’s all said and done.
