Photo by Ned Dishman/NBAE via Getty Images. Pictured: Bradley Beal.
The U.S. men’s national basketball team’s exhibition against Australia originally scheduled for Friday has been canceled after Bradley Beal and Jerami Grant were placed under coronavirus-related health and safety protocols.
Beal was ruled out on Thursday for the Summer Olympics in Tokyo after he entered the health and safety protocols the day prior.
Grant was placed under the same protocols “out of an abundance of caution,” Team USA said in a statement. It was not immediately clear as of Thursday night whether Grant would also miss out on the tournament.
It was also unclear whether the entire team had been tested or not, nor is it clear who has or has not been vaccinated on the 12-man roster.
The U.S.’ next and final exhibition is scheduled against Spain on Sunday. It is unclear whether that game will go on as planned.
Their first game in the Olympic group stages is scheduled against France on Sunday, July 25. The U.S. are currently 14.5-point favorites in that game, down from their mark as 15.5-point favorites before the Beal news, according to DraftKings.
Futures odds at BetMGM, DraftKings and PointsBet remain unchanged since it was announced that Beal would miss the tournament. BetMGM has the U.S. as -400 favorites to repeat as gold medalists. DraftKings has that same line at -550, while PointsBet’s line is -625.
Team USA had lost to Australia 91-83 in an exhibition earlier this week. Prior to that, they lost to Nigeria 90-87.
Beal will most likely be replaced on the Team USA roster by a member of the “Select Team” who has played substantial minutes during warmup games. One of those players could be either San Antonio Spurs’ Keldon Johnson, the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Darius Garland or the Detroit Pistons’ Saddiq Bey.
The U.S. had been 13.5-point favorites to beat Australia in Friday’s exhibition rematch.