After persevering through injury to win his third NBA title, Steph Curry will not attend Team USA’s minicamp in Las Vegas.
Team USA is holding a minicamp at UNLV from July 25-27 to prepare for the FIBA World Cup in 2019 and the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, but Steph Curry will not be in attendance according to ESPN’s Chris Haynes.
Curry won’t be the only superstar skipping minicamp as LeBron James will also miss this year’s camp.
Haynes reports that Steph will be absent from minicamp to spend time with his newborn son.
However, I think his injury issues from this past season have also contributed to his decision.
Curry missed 31 games last year, and was held out of the Warriors’ entire first round playoff series against the Spurs.
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Steph’s ankle issues that hobbled him for the first few years of his career popped up again last season as he suffered multiple ankle sprains. Then, he went down with a sprained MCL after JaVale McGee awkwardly fell into Curry’s knee.
Steph had been relatively health over the past five years playing in 78 or more games in each of those seasons, but this year’s frustrating injuries may have encouraged to take some time off this offseason.
Curry was a member of Team USA’s World Cup championship teams in 2010 and 2014, but he’s never participated in the Olympics. He was a finalist for the 2016 Olympic team, but Steph was recovering from a knee injury from that year’s playoff run.
It remains to be seen whether winning an Olympic gold medal is a major goal for Steph, but Chris Haynes is reporting that he will not be eliminated from consideration for the team despite missing this year’s minicamp.
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Curry will now spend the next couple of months with his growing family and getting fully healthy for next season where the Warriors hope to complete the three-peat.