Highlights:
- The last time Steve Kerr and Draymond Green were in Japan, they had secured their Olympics Gold in the Men’s Basketball Crew.
- Their return to Japan marks the preseason game titles between Warriors and Wizards.
- Last year, due to the Covid-19 restrictions, the players were confined to their resort rooms, but this won’t be the case this time around.
This week, Green and Kerr made their way back to Tokyo for a pair of preseason game championships contested between the Warriors and the Wizards. Their visit comes a year and a few months after they aided the United States men’s basketball team in winning gold in the 2020 Summer Olympics, which had to be delayed due to the epidemic.
When Steve Kerr and Draymond Green visited Japan in the past, their whole focus was on basketball when they were there. As part of the COVID-19 guidelines for the Summer Olympics, Kerr and Green were required to spend 19 days inside their resort rooms, during which time they had minimal opportunities to engage with the people.
They were essentially prohibited from leaving the premises. The few times that they have been willing to emerge from their rooms have been for strategy games or online competitions.
“The whole city was closed down the last time we wound up in Tokyo,” Green recounted. “We were unable to leave.”
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Kerr and Green now have the opportunity to go to some unusual dining establishments, do some shopping, and exercise by strolling about the area with some beautiful parks. The athletes are ecstatic about the possibility that they will be able to spend some time in the city and see it in depth, as opposed to just showing up there, competing in two games, and then leaving.
However, it is not an ideal ritual to start the preseason somewhere farther than 5,000 miles from the United States. Due to the 10-hour flight and the 16-hour time difference, the players’ sleep regimens can be thrown off and impact them just before the demanding schedule of an 82-game regular season.
The Warriors play their first preseason match on Friday, and they have another one scheduled for Sunday before they go back home. After returning to San Francisco, they will have to wait eight days before participating in another preseason activity. This will give them plenty of time to acclimate to their new surroundings.