eNewMexican

Trio of NBA Finals players finally arrives for Summer Olympics

SAITAMA, Japan — The U.S. men’s basketball team is finally together.

Devin Booker, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday — the trio of U.S. Olympians who were in the NBA Finals and therefore have not been around their Tokyo Games teammates — arrived in Japan on Saturday night, less than 24 hours before the Americans’ scheduled Olympic opener against France.

How much they play on Sunday remains unclear. U.S. coach Gregg Popovich has said he would gauge their role based on how they were feeling after the flights.

“You’re talking about three true professionals, three extremely, extremely competitive guys that wouldn’t be on their way here if this didn’t mean something,” U.S. forward Draymond Green said Saturday. “They all just finished competing in the NBA Finals, just finished completing an NBA season. ... I have a lot of respect for those guys for not only committing to do this but actually keeping their word.”

Middleton and Holiday flew from Milwaukee to Seattle on Friday evening, making that trip a day after the Bucks had their championship parade to celebrate topping Phoenix in six games for the NBA title. Booker flew from Phoenix to Seattle, getting there Friday night a few minutes after the Bucks arrived. Booker hopped on the plane with Middleton and Holiday, and it took them about nine hours to get from Seattle to Tokyo. They landed shortly before 11 p.m. Saturday, or about 22 hours before the U.S.-France game is scheduled to begin.

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2021-07-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

2021-07-25T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://enewmexican.com/article/282003265453551

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