Marcin Gortat was planning to play for Poland at the upcoming 2011 EuroBasket tournament. Those plans have been derailed, however, due to the cost of insurance needed to cover Gortat and his contract during the NBA lockout.
Marcin Gortat Will Not Play For Poland At EuroBasket Due To Insurance Issues
Poland announced that Gortat wouldn’t be joining Poland on the Polish National Team’s official site.
“Personally, I declare full support for Polish Basketball Association and our staff in the coming years. This year we had a really great group of players and a nice coach,” Gortat said according to the translation. “I deeply regret that I cannot play with them, but it would be too great of a risk. I hope everybody understands it. I’ll keep my fingers crossed for them at EuroBasket. I believe they will do everything to achieve a good result.”
Gortat’s agent, Guy Zucker, recently spoke to SB Nation Arizona’s Seth Pollack about the insurance issues that could come up if his player were to play for Poland this summer.
“It’s totally up to insurance companies covering what is maybe not a direct liability but obviously a logical liability considering that we are in the lockout situation which is what’s causing this entire problem to begin with,” Gortat’s agent Guy Zucker explained.
“A scenario would consist of the possibility of Marcin sustaining some sort of injury that’s not career threatening but serious enough to keep him out of action for an extensive period of time and the Suns having the option of terminating the remaining three years of his contract. It sounds simple but it’s not easy to insure something like that.”
It's unfortunate that Gortat isn't able to play for his country, but considering he's owed roughly $13 million from the Phoenix Suns over the next two seasons, it makes sense that he's not risking serious injury.
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