Another Celtic is joining Team USA for the 2024 Olympics
Derrick White is joining the Team USA roster for the 2024 Olympics after Kawhi Leonard was removed due to injury.
Coming off of their NBA Championship win last month, some members of the Boston Celtics are already turning their attention to a different kind of ‘world championship’ at next month’s 2024 Olympics.
The initial roster for Team USA already included two Celtics players – Jayson Tatum and Jrue Holiday. That made the Celtics one of three teams with multiple players on the roster, along with the Los Angeles Lakers (LeBron James and Anthony Davis) and Phoenix Suns (Kevin Durant and Devin Booker).
As of Tuesday afternoon though, the Celtics now stand alone as Tatum and Holiday will have a third teammate joining them in Paris. According to multiple reports, Derrick White is joining the team in place of Kawhi Leonard, who withdrew due to injury.
With White added to the roster, the Celtics are the first NBA team with three Team USA members since the Golden State Warriors in 2016. The Oklahoma City Thunder also had three representatives in 2012.
This will be White’s first time participating in the Olympics, after being named a finalist for the roster in 2020. It won’t be his first international competition though – he played for the Team USA World Cup team in 2019 (Tatum, Jaylen Brown, and former Celtic Marcus Smart were also on that team).
![MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - AUGUST 24: Derrick White of the USA takes the ball up court defended by Nathan Sobey of Australia during game two of the International Basketball series between the Australian Boomers and United States of America at Marvel Stadium on August 24, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Daniel Pockett/Getty Images)](https://985thesportshub.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/88/2024/07/GettyImages-1169867126_1720627725_.jpg?w=1024)
White, 30, will now have a chance to add to what has already been an impressive summer. After playing a key role in the Celtics’ championship win, he signed a four-year, $125.9 million contract extension.
The addition of White was announced ahead of Team USA’s first game action – an exhibition game against Canada on Tuesday night. That will be the first of five exhibition games Team USA plays before Olympic Group Stage play begins on July 28. Team USA will play Serbia in the opener, then South Sudan (July 31) and Puerto Rico (August 3) during group play.
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