After being in the health & safety protocols of USA Basketball for a few days, the Detroit Pistons‘ Jerami Grant re-emerged to play for Team USA against Spain on Sunday night.
The mystery of ‘will he or won’t he’ play in the Olympics was resolved, as Jerami Grant was on the court, for Team USA against Spain. He helped them to an 83-76 win over one of the other top contenders for the gold medal in Tokyo.
Detroit Pistons: Jerami Grant is back with USA Olympic team, Saddiq Bey’s time is over
The Pistons’ Saddiq Bey, who had been playing with Team USA during the exhibition season due to a player shortage, did not get in the game.
Despite being basically holed up in his hotel room for three days, unable to practice, Grant had five points and three rebounds in 12 minutes of action. Grant entered the game in both halves to replace starting small forward Jayson Tatum.
Next up for Grant and Team USA is a flight to Tokyo to try and get the United States its fourth straight men’s basketball medal. They open up play on July 25 against another country given a chance to win it in all, France.
(FYI: Neither of the Pistons players who are French citizens, Killian Hayes or Sekou Doumbouya, are on the team).
Bradley Beal was removed from the USA team when he tested positive for COVID-19. In what was described as ‘an abundance of caution’, Grant was also put in health & safety protocols, even though he did not test positive. A couple more negatives, and the 6-foot-9 Grant was back in the lineup.
Since Team USA’s game with Australia was canceled following Beal’s diagnosis (which country did the canceling is a bit murky), Grant did not miss any of the Olympic team’s exhibition games.
The USA beat Spain despite having only eight players who will be in Tokyo. Three of the absent (former Piston Khris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker) are still in the NBA playoffs. Michigan native JaVale McGee is joining the team as a late-ad on, after Kevin Love withdrew with a lingering calf injury, and did not see action.
If Grant will play the role of backup small forward that he did against Spain is up in the air. Since one-quarter of the roster has not even practiced, there is a lot unknown with how the Olympic team will shake out.
Olympic roster rundown
Now that the roster is finalized, Team USA will have one current Detroit Piston (Grant), one ex-Piston (Middleton) and two other players who grew up in Michigan (Draymond Green from Saginaw, and McGee in Flint, although he played high school ball in Detroit)
Another current Pistons player, Jahlil Okafor, is on Nigeria at the Olympics. Nigeria beat Team USA in its exhibition opener.
The attention of the sports world now turns to Japan for the Summer Olympic Games. The fact there is a sizable presence in men’s basketball with the Pistons and players from the state of Michigan gives local fans an added reason to follow.