ATLANTA — Atlanta Hawks star Trae Young alluded on Thursday that he he's pretty unhappy about not being chosen for the U.S. men's basketball Olympic team.
The 22-year-old point guard led the Hawks to their first playoff series win in five years when they defeated the New York Knicks and then the Philadelphia 76ers before falling to the Bucks in the conference finals.
Young's stock rose immensely in the playoffs, where he averaged nearly 30 points per game.
After Steph Curry, James Harden and Donovan Mitchell opted out of playing for the men's Olympic team this year, Team USA went with a backcourt of Devin Booker, Damian Lillard, Jrue Holiday, Zach Lavine and Bradley Beal for the upcoming Tokyo Games.
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Team USA has been facing some adversity this week after they dropped exhibition games to Nigeria and Australia and then had to cancel an exhibition game planned for Friday against Australia for health and safety protocols.
Wizards guard Bradley Beal is now out of the Olympics due to health and safety protocols related to COVID-19 and Team USA will need to replace him.
After the news of the cancellation and Beal's departure, Trae Young sent out a cryptic tweet, an Isiah Thomas video from "The Last Dance" when Thomas addressed his widely publicized snub from the 1992 Olympic Dream Team roster, which is believed to have been ordered by Michael Jordan.
Young's tweet exploded with over 100,000 likes and over 10,000 retweets.
The young star is feeling left out of Tokyo after averaging 27.5 points per game and over nine assists a game in his last two seasons. But, there doesn't appear to be any evidence that someone on Team USA is behind Young not having a roster a spot.
Is Young campaigning here to replace Bradley Beal?
Whether Team USA will want to fill that spot with a point guard, though, is the question, considering Beal is more of a wing player.
Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant also posted a cryptic tweet yesterday after the Beal news, appearing to feel some type of way about a Team USA snub.
Morant in his second season this year led the Grizzlies to the playoffs for the first time in four years, but they fell to the 1-seed Utah Jazz in the first round.
Like I said, it's pretty doubtful Team USA would replace Beal with a point guard like Young or Morant anyway, and some reports suggest they may be looking at a power forward or center to replace him to add more size to the team.
The men’s basketball action in Toyko tips off on July 25, two days after the Opening Ceremony. Team USA will compete in Group A against France, Iran and Czech Republic in order to qualify for the single-elimination Final Phase that begins on August 3.
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