Zach LaVine clears health and safety protocols, will join U.S. Olympic men's basketball team in T...

Team USA guard Zach LaVine has cleared health and safety protocols, USA Basketball announced Tuesday night.

He will join the rest of the U.S. Olympic team in Tokyo on Thursday afternoon. The Olympics begin Friday, with the U.S. set for its first pool-play game on Sunday against France.

The Chicago Bulls star was the third player to be affected in the past week, as Bradley Beal had to leave the team because of the protocols and Jerami Grant was in contact-tracing quarantine for four days.

LaVine had started the past two exhibition games in place of Beal and looked strong through the Olympic run-up. He averaged 10.3 points in the four exhibition games, third on the team behind Damian Lillard and Kevin Durant, and had several impressive transition dunks.

Team USA will also be joined byKhris Middleton, Jrue Holiday and Devin Booker, whose teams were playing in the NBA Finals that concluded Tuesday night. The three players will be on a private plane to Tokyo departing Friday, sources told The Undefeated's Marc Spears, and are expected to arrive in time for Sunday's opener.

Information from ESPN's Brian Windhorst was used in this report.