The U.S. men’s national basketball team lost more than their shot at gold Wednesday in their 89-79 loss to France.
According to The Athletic’s Shams Charania, Team USA will shut down Marcus Smart for the remaining games of the 2019 FIBA World Cup tournament. The Boston Celtics guard, according to Charania, “wanted to play in final two USA games, but is nursing minor injuries and decision was made to avoid further injury.”
Those “minor injuries” include soreness in Smart’s calf and quad, as well as a knuckle injury. X-rays on the knuckle came back negative.
Smart missed Team USA’s win over Japan on Sept. 5 due to a quad strain after injuring his calf in training camp.
The guard scored 11 points with two assists in the men’s loss to France.
