Kawhi says he plans to play for Pop on Olympic team

A Kawhi Leonard-Gregg Popovich reunion could be coming at this summer's Olympics in Tokyo.

"My plan is to go," Leonard told reporters Sunday, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. "If I feel up to it and feel ready to go around that time, then I'm going to play."

Scheduling could complicate that for the Los Angeles Clippers superstar. The Tokyo Games are scheduled to begin July 23, and the United States plays its first contest two days later. The latest possible date of the NBA Finals is slated for July 22.

With the Olympics being delayed a year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NBA and USA Basketball are operating under the assumption that players who go deep into the playoffs may be unavailable for national team duty.

"A lot of people were in for 2020, but just the pandemic pretty much killed everything," Leonard said.

Leonard played the first seven years of his NBA career for Popovich and the San Antonio Spurs before a rift developed between the two parties over the handling of the former's quad injury. The Spurs traded him to the Toronto Raptors in 2018.