Why One American Basketball Team Won’t Be at the Summer Olympics

Kara Lawson of Duke coached the American women’s three-on-three team, which qualified for the Games with ease, finishing 4-0 in its pool, then beating Belarus, 21-10, and Spain 21-13. The winner is the first team to 21 points or the leader after 10 minutes. (Dawn Staley of South Carolina will coach the women’s five-on-five at the Games.)

The women’s three-on-three roster has much more familiar names, all with W.N.B.A. experience: Allisha Gray of the Dallas Wings, Stefanie Dolson of the Chicago Sky, Katie Lou Samuelson of the Seattle Storm and Kelsey Plum of the Las Vegas Aces, a former No. 1 overall draft pick. Because the W.N.B.A. is a summer league, the opportunity was there to recruit some top players who were available to earn points at FIBA events in the winter.

Those stars will now return to their W.N.B.A. teams. In contrast, the players on the men’s teams include a news producer and a development specialist.

Though one spot is left in the men’s field at the Olympics, the U.S. is not eligible for it. In another quirky FIBA decision, that place is reserved only for nations that did not have a team in the 2012 or 2016 Olympic Games. So men from Mongolia, Hungary or Romania could be at the Games, while the nation of Wilt Chamberlain and Julius Erving watches from home.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/31/sports/olympics/3x3-basketball-american-men.html