at ORACLE Arena on December 28, 2016 in Oakland, California. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement.

After the Golden State Warriors blew a 3-1 lead in the 2016 NBA Finals, Steph Curry was battered and bruised emotionally and physically. He begged to stay at home instead of competing for Team USA in Rio, and they obliged him. The U.S. won gold without him, but Steph is still thinking about Olympic Gold.

He spoke to FIBA.com recently and says he not only wants to play for Team USA in Tokyo in 2020, but the next FIBA World Cup which comes in 2019:

“Going forward, I do plan on playing at the World Cup (in 2019 in China), being healthy and being in a good position to be in Tokyo.”

And as for why Curry skipped out on Rio besides the obvious:

“The way it went down this past year with the injury, it was the right decision,” Curry said to FIBA.com in his hometown of Charlotte, where he recently played for the Golden State Warriors against the Hornets. “It was a tough one because I put a lot of equity into playing for Team USA and was looking forward to playing for the Olympic team for the first time.

“The decision for me personally was that it was best not to play, and to get ready for the season, to get healthy.”

Of course, USA Basketball had quite a deep well to drill into for talent outside of Steph, LeBron, and the host of other big names that skipped out on Rio for one reason or another. However, Curry will still be welcome to join Team USA and new head coach Gregg Popovich whenever he’s ready to play.

[ProBasketballTalk; FIBA.com]

About Matt Lichtenstadter

Recent Maryland graduate. I've written for many sites including World Soccer Talk, GianlucaDiMarzio.com, Testudo Times, Yahoo's Puck Daddy Blog and more. Houndstooth is still cool, at least to me. Follow me @MattsMusings1 on Twitter, e-mail me about life and potential jobs at matthewaaron9 at Yahoo dot com.