Dwyane Wade Uncertain if He’ll Play in the 2012 Olympics


Dwyane Wade says that his participation in this summer’s Olympic games is by no means a guarantee. From NBA.com: “Dwyane Wade sounded slightly less than 100 percent certain he’ll be in London no matter what, even after accepting the invite to what would be his third Olympics after being prodded by his 2008 Beijing teammates (‘Kobe was like, ‘if my old self is playing, you can,’ Wade said) into putting the band back together one last time. ‘I told them, I said, listen, I’m just going to see how I feel,’ Wade said last week. ‘This is about being healthy — I think, for all of us, going into the summer healthy — and taking it from there.’ This was somewhat surprising to [USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo]. ‘You could, today, probably come up with 10 or 11 that look pretty solid unless something happens,’ he said by telephone. ‘Wade’s one of those guys, but if he feels like he doesn’t have anything left or doesn’t think he can go, then we’ll make a decision as to who replaces him. We do have a lot of flexibility because we have guys who can play so many positions.’ Even after all the injuries, the U.S. team will still be loaded at the wing spots, with LeBron James, Bryant, Wade, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and [James] Harden. Harden’s season in Oklahoma City was too good to ignore when the U.S. coaching and administrative staff met in Las Vegas last week, and it’s likely he’ll be part of the U.S. team going forward in 2014 for the World Cup of Basketball in Spain and the 2016 Olympic team that will play in Brazil; overlapping talent from one cycle to the next is one of Colangelo’s most important precepts.”