Health issues are again threatening the Olympic Games.

Six NBA players have already announced they will not go to Rio for the Olympics this summer because of nagging injuries. Add to that the nagging fear of the Zika virus caused by deadly mosquito bites. So far, Stephen Curry, LaMarcus Aldridge, Anthony Davis, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul and John Wall have all pulled the Olympic plug.

Injuries aside, those players are also worried about the Zika virus and are unwilling to put their health, and perhaps their lives, in jeopardy to win yet another gold medal for Coach Mike Krzyzewski. If I were Coach K, I would be worrying about the same thing for myself and the large traveling party he has taken along to Beijing in 2008 and London in 2012. Bet you Coach K will be going solo this time.

It reminds me of what happened before the 2004 Olympics in Athens that led to his absurd 12-year reign as the Olympic coach, during which he has gained immeasurable advantage in recruiting and visibility by refusing to turn the position over to a similarly established NBA coach. Let’s refresh our memories.

Larry Brown was named the Olympic coach for Athens and assembled an unbeatable team that qualified during the summer of 2003 in Puerto Rico. The Americans were the only team of the eight in Group Play to win all four games, outscoring opponents by 159 points. Brown’s team went on to win four more games in the quarterfinal round and won the FIBA qualifying tournament by defeating Argentina 106-73 and finished with a 10-0 record.

Only three members of that team, including Tim Duncan and Allen Iverson, went to Athens the next summer. Most of the dropouts cited the threat of terrorist attacks just three years after 9-11. The nine replacement players with little practice time lost the Olympic semis to the same Argentina team that was throttled in Puerto Rico and came home with the Bronze medal. Jerry Colangelo was put in charge of USA Basketball, and he hired Krzyzewski as head coach. Those two men have ruled the international game for this country ever since.

Now, a similar threat to the players exists going to Rio. Besides those who have dropped off already, LeBron James has not committed and my guess is he and other stars will bail, too, leaving the U.S. in the same perilous position as 12 years ago in Greece. It would be ironic if Coach K went out under the same circumstance he came in.