2021 Olympics: Sixers' Tobias Harris, Dwight Howard Named Finalists for Team USA
When the COVID-19 pandemic struck the entire world last season, everything went on hold. A year ago, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver made the executive decision to suspend the 2019-2020 NBA season right after the Philadelphia 76ers wrapped up their regular-season game against the Detroit Pistons.
The following morning, other major sports leagues followed suit. Eventually, all major sports were suspended. That raised questions about the 2020 Olympics, which was set to take place in Tokyo.
After realizing there was no way to have athletes from all countries flock to Tokyo for the games without putting humans' health at risk, the event was postponed to 2021. Now, Team USA Men's Basketball is working on finalizing the rosters for this summer. On Thursday, the committee announced the 57 finalists for the roster, which included two Philadelphia 76ers.
“With the postponement of the Tokyo Olympics from 2020 to 2021, it’s important that we continue to remain flexible and consider all players who can contribute to our efforts to field the best USA team possible,” USA Basketball men’s national team managing director Jerry Colangelo said. “These additions we are announcing today will help ensure that we are doing that.”
Sixers veteran forward Tobias Harris and veteran center Dwight Howard cracked the final 57 on Thursday. Howard, who is a seasoned veteran that backs up Sixers center Joel Embiid, is probably considered a longshot to make the team at this point in his career although he's represented Team USA before in Beijing.
As for Harris, he's currently in his prime and having the best season of his career since reuniting with head coach Doc Rivers. This season, Harris was viewed as a borderline All-Star, who was snubbed after not receiving a favorable amount of fan votes for the first few weeks. Perhaps, Harris will get rewarded with an Olympics appearance this year as 12 of the 57 finalists will be selected early this summer.
Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_ & Instagram: @JGrassoNBA.
