The gruesome leg injury Paul George suffered in Friday night’s USA Basketball scrimmage has captured the attention of the NBA. While there has been talk that George’s injury may serve as the impetus for NBA teams rallying against their stars participating in international competitions, the Indiana Pacers have made it known they still support USA basketball.
The Pacers still support USA Basketball
Larry Bird issued a statement on Saturday saying the Pacers still believe in the mission of USA Basketball.
Ethan Miller
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
In a statement released by Pacers president of basketball operations Larry Bird on Saturday, the organization said it still stands behind USA Basketball and its goals of growing the game. Bird, of course, was a member of the original 1992 Dream Team that won the gold medal in Barcelona.
Paul George Injury
George will reportedly miss all of next season as he recovers. It’s the first major injury for an American player in an international competition since NBA players started competing in the Olympics in 1992. There has been an outpouring of support from around the NBA since the injury occurred.
Here’s the full statement from Bird and the Pacers:
"Our first thoughts are with Paul and his family. It is way too early to speculate on his return as the No. 1 priority for everyone will be his recovery. Our initial discussions with our doctors and the doctors in Las Vegas have us very optimistic. We are hopeful at some point next week Paul will return to Indianapolis to continue his recovery.
"There is no question about the impact on our team but our goal is to be as strong-willed and determined as Paul will be in coming back. Our franchise has had setbacks in its history but has demonstrated the abilities to recover. Paul will provide the example of that off the court and it is up to the rest of us to provide that example on the court. Any discussion regarding the future of our team would be inappropriate at this time. Our focus is solely on Paul and doing whatever we can to help.
"We still support USA Basketball and believe in the NBA's goals of exposing our game, our teams and players worldwide. This is an extremely unfortunate injury that occurred on a highly-visible stage, but could also have occurred anytime, anywhere.
"Finally, the Pacers would like to thank our fans and the NBA community for their outreach of support in the brief amount of time since the injury occurred. It has been overwhelming and it is what makes Indiana and the NBA special."
See More:
