Colorado alum Derrick White to fill Kawhi Leonard’s spot at Paris Olympics

DENVER (KDVR) — A Parker local and alumni of the University of Colorado basketball team has been named as the replacement on Team USA for Los Angeles Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard.

According to a Wednesday announcement, Derrick White, a star guard of the NBA champion Boston Celtics team, will play with some of America’s greatest players at the Paris Olympics on USA Basketball. This year’s players include former MVPs like LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Joel Embiid.

The shakeup also marks the first major change to the team’s roster, which was announced earlier this year.

“I am happy to announce that Derrick will compete at his first Olympic Games on the heels of a championship season in Boston,” said USA Basketball Men’s National Team managing director Grant Hill in a release. “We look forward to him joining the team in the coming days as we continue preparations for Paris.”

White averaged 15.2 points and 5.2 assists for the Celtics this past season and has played in the NBA for seven years. Before his professional career, White played three years on the University of Colorado Colorado Springs team, before transferring to the University of Colorado Buffaloes for his senior year.

White is a second-team All-Defensive selection after this past NBA season, so he’s expected to take some of the on-ball defending duties that the Olympic team likely envisioned Leonard having. White also has some USA Basketball experience, including being part of the 2019 World Cup team that finished seventh in China, and was also a finalist for the 2020 USA Men’s National Team.

White’s addition to the team also ups the number of Boston players to 3 of the 12 players on the U.S. roster. Celtics teammates Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday also are Paris-bound.

According to a statement from USA Basketball, Leonard was “ramping up for the Olympics,” but decided it was in his best interest to spend the summer preparing for the upcoming NBA season rather than going to the Olympic Games in Paris.

Other named members of the team, not including the MVPs, are Bam Adebayo (Miami Heat), Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns), Stephen Curry (Golden State Warriors), Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers), Anthony Edwards (Minnesota Timberwolves) and Tyrese Haliburton (Indiana Pacers).

The USA Basketball team is traveling to Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, this week and is scheduled to practice there ahead of exhibition games against Australia on July 15 and Serbia on July 17, which will include Nuggets star Nikola Jokic, who’s playing for Serbia. However, the team is also playing an exhibition game Wednesday night in Las Vegas against Canada, and White is not expected to play, according to ESPN .

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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