Bradley Beal Won't Play for Team USA in Olympics After Entering Health Protocols

USA Basketball announced Washington Wizards shooting guard Bradley Beal will not play in the Tokyo Olympics after he entered COVID-19 health and safety protocols, per Shams Charania of Stadium and The Athletic.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski first reported Beal could be replaced on the team.

Beal, a three-time All-Star, put together a strong performance against the 2004 Olympic gold medalists, tallying 17 points, six rebounds, three assists and a steal in 30 minutes, and he was likely ticketed for a substantial role in Tokyo after ranking second in the NBA in scoring (31.3 PPG) this season.

The 28-year-old St. Louis native had called the opportunity to play for the U.S. men's national team a "blessing" during an interview with CBS Sports' Michael Kaskey-Blomain on Monday:

"It's an honor. It's something that you don't take for granted. Not a lot of guys in the league get this opportunity. We all know that. So, you embrace it. You understand that the U.S. wants you to win, and everyone else wants you to lose. We didn't live up to what we wanted to a few years ago [in the 2019 FIBA World Cup], and so now we have an opportunity to get back what's rightfully ours."

Finding a suitable replacement for Beal may be more important than it would have seemed a few weeks ago. Team USA suffered exhibition losses to Nigeria and Australia, which dampened expectations that the Americans would waltz to gold in Tokyo.

The question becomes whether the U.S. will replace Beal with another sharpshooter or perhaps shift focus to a pass-first point guard to take some pressure off Damian Lillard. The roster has a lot of combo guards and wings but could use another facilitator.

Meanwhile, forward Jerami Grant has also entered COVID-19 protocols at training camp in Las Vegas, but he hasn't tested positive for the coronavirus, per Charania and Joe Vardon of The Athletic.

Grant has been effective in a high-energy role off the bench for the American squad, so he could be another significant loss depending on whether he's cleared to travel for the Olympics.

Team USA has two warm-up games remaining, Friday vs. Australia and Sunday vs. Spain, before leaving for Japan.

The three-time defending Olympic champions begin play in Tokyo on July 25 against France.