Team USA revealed on Tuesday their 41-man player pool for the upcoming 2024 Summer Olympics. There was no shortage of big names on the list, which also included no less than two Milwaukee Bucks players in Damian Lillard and Bobby Portis.
Bucks veteran big man Robin Lopez was, unsurprisingly, not on the list. The 35-year-old center took to Twitter on Thursday to explain how this development came to be.
Milwaukee Bucks’ Robin Lopez Turns Down Team USA Opportunity
Lopez decided to use social media as his avenue to make an important announcement on Thursday. According to the 7-foot-1 big man, it was his own choice not to take part in Team USA’s preparations for the Olympics. He also had a hilarious reason as to why he came to this decision:
I would like to announce my decision to abstain from Team USA 2024 Olympic activities in order to avoid conflicts with my livestream of my Cheers/Fraiser/Wings/The Tortellis rewatch this summer. Please follow along at https://t.co/vuL8puk6W8
I prayed on this for quite some time
— Robin Lopez (@rolopez42) January 25, 2024
Apparently, Lopez is going to be extremely busy this summer re-watching a bunch of classic TV series. Obviously, this takes precedence over representing the nation on the grandest stage.
Lopez then added a postscript about how he was too caught up in the moment to be bothered by a routinary spell-check:
p.s. I mispelled "Frasier" due to overwhelming grief and anxiety
— Robin Lopez (@rolopez42) January 25, 2024
Robin Lopez is an absolute gem.
Damian Lillard, Bobby Potis Called up for Team USA
In case you didn’t know, Lopez’s statements had sarcasm written all over it. Team USA never wanted him in the first place and he’s just having fun with all this.
It’s a different case for Damian Lillard and Bobby Portis, though, as both players have been included in the preliminary player pool for the national squad:
USA Basketball announced its 41-player pool for the 2024 Olympic Men’s National Team and it's STACKED. 🫡 https://t.co/r4lzuNfXX5 pic.twitter.com/4YGCoM9dv3
— theScore (@theScore) January 23, 2024
Should he be included in the final roster, this will be far from the first time Lillard represented the United States at the international level. The seven-time All-Star was part of the 2020 gold medal-winning squad in the Tokyo Olympics, and he could be looking to do it again this summer.
Portis, on the other hand, was part of Team USA’s roster in the FIBA World Cup last summer. The Americans disappointingly finished fourth in that tournament and Portis will want to get a shot at redemption in the upcoming Paris Olympics.
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