Stephen Curry’s Hilarious Reaction To Kawhi Leonard Leaving Team USA

Stephen Curry is one of the stars of this year’s Team USA squad. He and LeBron James are widely expected to play central roles in leading the American side to a gold medal.

At one point, many were surprised to see that Los Angeles Clippers star, Kawhi Leonard, was included on this year’s Team USA roster. While his talent is never in question – his durability most certainly is.

Surely enough this week the 33-year-old dropped out and went home.

“Kawhi has been ramping up for the Olympics over the past several weeks and had a few strong practices in Las Vegas,” Team USA said in a statement.

“He felt ready to comPete. However, he respects that USA Basketball and the Clippers determined it’s in his best interest to spend the remainder of the summer preparing for the upcoming season rather than participating in the Olympic Games in Paris.”

Shortly after Leonard’s departure, Curry weighed in on his decision.

“Kawhi gave it everything he had when we were preparing the last few days of camp,” Curry said.

Steph Curry on Kawhi Leonard withdrawing from Team USA before the Olympics: “I know he wanted to play… Hopefully, for the long term, he’s in a good place because the Game needs him. When he’s not out there, you miss an all-time great player. We hope he’s ready for this season.” pic.twitter.com/0M3S5UfLtD

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) July 11, 2024

“There were conversations between USAB leadership, Kawhi, and his team to make sure he was set up for success.

“Obviously, these are tough decisions, and I know he wanted to play, but it’s one of those things where he wished us luck and wanted us to go win Gold. Hopefully, for the long term, he’s in a good place because the game needs him. When he’s not out there, you miss an all-time great player. We hope he’s ready for this season.”

Why were Curry’s comments hilarious? Because you could tell that even he didn’t believe that Leonard a.) gave it everything he had and b.) actually wanted to play on Team USA.

Clearly Leonard showed up for appearances-sake, made an exit plan and promptly dipped.

It was all very reminiscent of his general NBA career.

Leonard is a tremendously talented player, but he will never go down as an all-time great because he simply can’t play basketball for sustained enough periods to qualify.

Carlos Garcia

A longtime Sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB Games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.