USA Basketball’s coaching staff continues to plan ahead for the Tokyo Olympics despite the uncertainty caused by the global coronavirus pandemic, according to Steve Kerr.
“We’re just going to plan as if it’s going to happen and we’re going to try to put together a roster,” Kerr told reporters during a conference call Tuesday, but admitted that everything remains very much “up in the air.”
The Olympics are scheduled to kick off July 24.
“Everything’s just up in the air,” Kerr said. “There’s no sense of whether things are going to be delayed or anything. We’re all kind of wondering what’s going to happen and so is the rest of the world.”
The International Olympic Committee said Tuesday that the uncertainty of things right now is “an unprecedented situation for the whole world.”
“The IOC remains fully committed to the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, and with more than four months to go before the Games there is no need for any drastic decisions at this stage,” the IOC said, adding that any other “speculation at this moment would be counter-productive.”
Officially, no part of that plan has changed yet. Like the NBA and the rest of the sports world, USA Basketball is very much in wait-and-see mode.
“(Team USA head coach Gregg Popovich) and I have spoken a couple of times over the last week or so,” Kerr said. “We’re all kind of sitting here wondering what’s going to happen, and so is the rest of the world. We’re just going to plan as if this is going to happen, and we’re going to try and put together a roster, and that’s all we can do.”
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