Derrick White to replace Kawhi Leonard, join Celtics teammates at Olympics

It appears the NBA champion Boston Celtics will now have three players competing for Team USA at the Olympics in Paris later this month.

As first reported by Shams Charania, Los Angeles Clippers star Kawhi Leonard has pulled out of the Olympics due to chronic knee soreness and inflammation, and Celtics guard Derrick White is considered the leading candidate to replace him. Marc Spears confirmed a short time later that it will indeed be White taking Leonard’s spot.

UPDATE : USA Basketball has since officially announced the addition of White.

White, who turned 30 last week, is coming off the best season of his career, averaging 15.2 points, 4.2 rebounds and 5.2 assists per game while helping the Celtics win their first NBA title since 2008. He shot a career-best 39.6% from three and was named Second Team All-Defense for a second straight season.

White will be joining Boston teammates Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday, both of whom are heading to a second straight Olympics after helping the U.S. win gold at the 2020 Games in Tokyo (which took place in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic).

Curiously, Jaylen Brown remains a notable omission from the team and appeared to be behind White in the injury replacement pecking order all along based on previous reporting. Brown was named the MVP of both the Eastern Conference Finals and NBA Finals during the Celtics’ championship run.

Brown would seemingly be closer to a 1-for-1 replacement for Leonard positionally, but White can also guard multiple positions and play both on- and off-ball. White and Brown both previously played for Team USA at the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup.

Team USA does still have one lingering injury concern, as Kevin Durant, the United States’ all-time leading scorer at the Olympics, continues to recover from a calf strain. He will miss Wednesday night’s scrimmage against Canada in Las Vegas, but has said he expects to take part in the next leg of training camp when the team flies to Abu Dhabi ahead of exhibition games against Australia and Serbia.

Team USA’s first game of the Olympics will be July 28 against Serbia.