Well, for weeks now, Kawhi Leonard’s withdrawal from Team USA has been a real head-scratcher. When the decision was initially announced, not many batted an eye as USA Basketball stated that it was a joint decision by them and the Clippers organization, keeping Kawhi’s health in consideration. However, Clippers President Lawrence Frank turned the tables claiming that they had nothing to do with the call. Meanwhile, Kevin Durant’s spot on the team never came under threat despite him being out with a strained calf.

As the blame game began, it was widely believed that Nike had an influence on USA Basketball’s decision to replace Kawhi because of his tarnished relationship with the sneaker giants. Giving his thoughts about the whole incident on the Clips N Dip podcast, Clippers’ insider and media veteran Tomer Azarly believes the actual issue might be far more complicated than the Nike controversy, “He (Kawhi) wanted to play. The Clippers say he wanted to play. Team USA claims it was a joint effort. It just wasn’t really adding up. And I understand if there’s like Nike politics involved… I just don’t buy that as an easy excuse.”

While Kawhi has a legal history with Nike as they battled for the copyright ownership of the ‘Klaw’ logo in 2019, there could be more underlying issues leading up to Kawhi’s withdrawal. Moreover, Azarly found it extremely strange that Kawhi wasn’t even given a chance to play a single showcase game even though he had been through four practice sessions in Las Vegas. “Not really giving him an opportunity to even get to one of the other countries and play a game, considering you have a guy on the sidelines who hasn’t played with a calf strain in a month now. It’s just strange to me.” Azarly added. If the issue was only about injury concerns, then Durant should have been treated the same as Kawhi as he had shown more visible signs of injury than Kawhi had until then.

USA Basketball stood by Kevin Durant despite injury concerns

When Azarly pointed out USA Basketball’s double standards in a recent tweet, booting Kawhi early while keeping an injured KD on the squad, he made it clear that the tweet wasn’t meant as a shot at The Slim Reaper. “That was in no way a shot at Kevin Durant. Again, Kevin Durant is an all timer, he’s an Olympian. He deserves to have that chance to be there.” Azarly reiterated on the pod. But his only concern was why Kawhi wasn’t given the same opportunity when they could have assessed his fitness by playing him in the Showcase games and made a more sound decision.

Moreover, Team USA head coach Steve Kerr made it clear that replacing Kevin Durant was never considered despite his injury, “Yeah, there’s no thought of replacing Kevin.” Surely something smells fishy. Doesn’t it? On top of all this, the Clippers insider also revealed that just a day after he asked Grant Hill about an update on Kawhi sometime around Game 2 of the NBA Finals when there was no talk of his withdrawal, Adrian Wojnarowski dropped a bomb revealing that Derrick White was already in consideration to replace the two-time Champion. “That’s a strange timing moment.” Tomer remarked. With so many factors involved and every party telling a different story, it’s nearly impossible to pinpoint the actual reason why Kawhi is not playing in the Paris Olympics. As Kanye said in his Grammy-winning speech, “I guess we’ll never know.” What are your thoughts?

Before you go, do not forget to check out this crossover between BG12 and Georgia Bulldogs star Silas Demary Jr.