Over the weekend, it was reported that USA Basketball is eyeing 60 players for its player pool for the Tokyo Olympics.
It appears as though Toronto Raptors guard Fred VanVleet will be among those players.
According to Doug Smith of the Toronto Star, VanVleet will be one of the 60 players invited to be part of the USA Basketball player pool, which is expected to be revealed in the coming weeks. Smith adds that VanVleet's backcourt teammate Kyle Lowry, who helped Team USA win a gold medal in the 2016 Olympics, will also be among the candidates.
A little bit of news surrounding Mr. VanVleet of the Raptorshttps://t.co/aqRCHUyxIC
— Doug Smith: Raptors (@SmithRaps) January 25, 2021
It's been quite the journey to this point for VanVleet, who went undrafted in 2016 following four years at Wichita State. He's since established himself as one of the better two-way guards in the NBA, earning himself a four-year, $85.0 million contract with the Raptors in the offseason.
VanVleet has gotten off to a strong start this season, posting career-highs of 19.1 points and 4.5 rebounds to go along with 6.4 assists, 1.4 steals and 0.5 blocks through 16 games.
The Tokyo Olympics were originally scheduled for 2020 but have been postponed until 2021 because of the coronavirus pandemic. USA Basketball isn't planning tryouts ahead of the Olympics, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. Instead, it will pare the list down from 60 players to 12 players in the coming months.
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