Why Paul George's injury could become a 'game-changer' for international basketball Long before the Indiana Pacers' Paul George crumpled to the court, his leg shattered and a career and franchise suddenly imperiled , USA Basketball had been the unintentional target of the NBA's push for control of its superstars' summers. Paul George suffered a career-altering injury in 2014, but he's going to play for the national team at the Olympics in Rio. During the 2015-2016 season, George enjoyed career highs in scoring, free-throws made, assists and steals per game, playing 81 out of 82 games — a sign that he was back for good. Team USA’s Paul George puts 2014 injury in Las Vegas behind him. — Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) August 2, 2014 George’s teammates with the men’s national team were stunned by the gruesome injury at the time, but the low-wattage roster for the FIBA World Cup is being attributed more to it being a non-Olympic year. "But when you see it's actually happened and he's earned it in every way, this is not a gift here. George promises to be the center of the debate, but this fight to get players out of international basketball had never been about the catastrophic injury, nor USA Basketball. "Game-changer," GM told me. He's literally earned this spot. Paul George said he owed himself the chance to return to Team USA after his nightmarish injury two years ago. Until now, anyway. — -- LAS VEGAS -- Indiana Pacers star Paul George suffered a gruesome lower right leg fracture during the U.S. national team's intrasquad scrimmage at … So we're very happy for him, and it's great to have him here.". “But time has a way of healing. Thank God it didn’t go down that way.”, Paul George’s Injury Was a Bad Break With No Permanent Damage, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/08/sports/basketball/paul-george-usa-basketball.html. Yet the mere mention of the word “scrimmage,” for a U.S.A.B. It's no limitations. “It was a travesty when it took place, and it just put us back on our heels,” Jerry Colangelo, U.S.A.B.’s managing director, said Thursday on the eve of Friday’s scrimmage. Back donning a USA jersey across his chest. Paul George suffered a compound fracture of the tibia and fibula. Five years after the star sustained a horrific injury while playing for Team U.S.A., the player and program have moved on. The fact that Coach K won’t be returning after this year had a lot to do with George’s decision to represent Team USA in Brazil this summer—that, and playing in the Olympics was George’s childhood dream. Credit... Glenn Pinkerton/Las Vegas News Bureau The Indiana Pacers’ Paul George suffered a compound fracture of the right leg early in the fourth quarter of an intrasquad scrimmage Friday night. That story and the way it unfolds at the Olympics is the final march on George's comeback tour. Stay on current site or go to US version. "I mean, when you think about it, when you think back to the tragedy when the injury took place, no one could have projected where he would be. Indiana Pacers guard/forward Paul George has accepted an invitation to play for USA Basketball’s 2016 Rio Olympics team, a source told The Undefeated. “I just got into a good groove, rhythm, physical, mental space. Kyle Kuzma, Thaddeus Young and Myles Turner are part of a men’s national team that is short on star power but long on youth. Paul George said he owed himself the chance to return to Team USA after his nightmarish injury two years ago. This summer could end up being a reminder to the world just how good George really is. I kind of just feel like all the chains are off of me and I'm free now.". To cope with a dearth of options at point guard, Popovich has already promoted Sacramento’s De’Aaron Fox and San Antonio’s Derrick White from a “select” roster of younger players to the senior national team. Was his career going to be limited because of the injury? Last summer, George received a four-year maximum contract from the Thunder valued at $137 million. You have reached ESPN's Australian edition. For all that has been made about stars such as LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Russell Westbrook, James Harden and Kawhi Leonard bowing out of international competition this summer, George's inclusion can't be emphasized enough. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Samir Ait Said suffered one of the most gruesome and painful injuries throughout the history… Paul George Gruesome Leg Injury in Team USA Basketball Showcase (HD) - YouTube. And you hope that you believe that, you think you do, but then maybe that's not going to happen. "I'm looked upon as the leader and the longest-[tenured] Pacer now. By C. … Paul George was taken off the court on a stretcher in 2014 after sustaining an open fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg during a game with the men’s national team. And was his career over? "The kid Paul George, who has always dreamed of winning a gold medal. What is certain is how George took a guarantee made by Colangelo shortly after "the injury" that there would a spot waiting for him on the '16 Olympic team, and went and proved he belonged anyway. This trip is not about the injury. Paul George said the toe injury he has in his right foot has flared up again and that the LA Clippers are trying to figure out if it will linger for the remainder of the season. "I'm back to being myself. Would he ever come back fully? So it's sunk in. Recounting a recent discussion he had with Mike Malone, his coach in Denver, Plumlee said: “I appreciate the guys who still come out here and do this, because a lot of people would say, ‘If something like that could happen, why would you come out here and risk it?’ But I was talking with Coach Malone and he said, ‘You guys are in the gym playing anyway.’ If you’re playing basketball, you’re playing basketball.”. Probably not much for the Olympics, but other international tournaments could see changes. contingent in Las Vegas, inevitably evokes images of what happened to George. Those troubles, though, are more often attributed to player apathy toward a non-Olympic tournament, along with general concerns about workload and travel amid the league’s rising “load management” movement, rather than fretting about a George repeat. Paul George is only 24. The Pacers superstar is back with Team USA. I'm over it. It's just a lot of extra love involved in this one. Last month, George requested a trade to the Los Angeles Clippers at the urging of Kawhi Leonard and clinched the Clippers’ blockbuster signing of Leonard away from the Toronto Raptors in free agency by successfully convincing Oklahoma City to deal him to L.A. All of that would have been hard to imagine on Aug. 1, 2014, seeing George, with his right leg placed in an air cast and teammates like Plumlee all around him so visibly shaken, taken out of the Thomas & Mack on a stretcher. players were granted permission to play internationally before the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. LAS VEGAS -- Indiana Pacers star Paul George suffered a gruesome lower right leg fracture during the U.S. national team's intrasquad scrimmage at … ... Osterman to retire after Olympics… Paul George tells reporters he's over the injury he suffered prior to the 2012 Olympics and says it was always his dream to win an Olympic gold medal. Asked for his George reflections, Young said it was a frequent occurrence last season for him and Turner to marvel at George’s emergence as a Most Valuable Player Award candidate in Oklahoma City. He is one of the top athletes in the world. (0:52), LAS VEGAS -- It has been two years since Paul George's life was inextricably altered during a USA Basketball exhibition game in which he snapped his right leg in gruesome fashion under the basket at the Thomas & Mack Center, an incident he now refers to simply as "the injury.". since N.B.A. "I'm really excited to have this opportunity again to represent my country," said George. And to see him back and to see what he's accomplished back in the league, it's like he didn't miss a beat.". Thanks largely to George’s remarkable recovery, coaxing hesitant players onto the floor is not one of them. “No, sir,” Boston’s Kemba Walker said when asked if he viewed George’s story as a cautionary tale before accepting U.S.A.B.’s invitation to be the face of this World Cup squad. His contributions helped win the gold medal. It happened. George (rest) is not on the injury report for Friday's game against the 76ers, Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints.com reports. The strain on the N.B.A.’s top foreign stars is typically far greater than what American players endure on perennially deep U.S. rosters, but Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece) and Utah’s Rudy Gobert (France) will be headliners at the upcoming World Cup in China — even though both are eligible for “supermax” contract extensions worth more than $250 million in the summer of 2020. The truth is that N.B.A. Plumlee was on the Thomas & Mack floor then as a soon-to-be surprising addition to the U.S. team that would proceed to Spain and win that year’s FIBA World Cup. “What’s crazy is that I’ve seen two of those live,” Plumlee said this week at U.S.A. Basketball’s latest training camp, recalling a similarly ghastly open fracture of the tibia sustained by Louisville’s Kevin Ware in Plumlee’s final game as a collegian at Duke. Whenever Paul George next steps on a basketball court, the Indiana Pacers star will immediately become the player I will pull for the hardest. Was invited to the 2009 USA Basketball U19 World Championship Team trials, but was unable to participate due to an injury. “Obviously it was a very gruesome injury, but the good thing is he’s bounced back and he’s better than ever,” Young said. Paul George Gruesome Leg Injury in Team USA Basketball Showcase (HD) Watch later. "I'm just enjoying it, man," he said. "Now I know I'm healthy, I know I'm OK, I know I'm 100 percent," George said. "It was meant to be an incentive for him," Colangelo said. U.S.A.B.’s struggles to attract stars for this summer’s World Cup bid have been a persistent N.B.A. Indiana's future, although it's a promising one with the offseason additions of Jeff Teague, Al Jefferson and Thaddeus Young, is yet to be determined. ... You try to envision and talk about, 'Well, in Rio, you'll be there.' — Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) August 2, 2014 “So there’s always an injury risk,” Plumlee said. Will be in surgery for two hours, to get a pin placed in his leg. Selected a member of the 2012 USA Basketball Select Team that trained against the 2012 U.S. Olympic Team. I wasn't worried about no injuries. teams responsible for lucrative guaranteed contracts have long loathed the idea of their best players participating in international basketball — before and after the George incident — but fears that George’s misfortune would lead the game’s biggest names to completely abandon it have thus far proved unrealized. Team USA Basketball Paul George Calls Team USA Injury 'Freak Accident,' Interested in 2016 Olympics Adam Fromal @. Resuming his spot within Team USA just brings things full circle. The Pacers' Paul George Will Play In The Rio Olympics Music The fact that Paul came back all the way and it didn’t affect his career, it kind of minimized what transpired.”. fromal09 In recent weeks before reporting for the Vegas training camp under new Team U.S.A. Coach Gregg Popovich, Plumlee had been playing pro-am ball in New York and pickup games at the National Basketball Players Association’s training facility in midtown Manhattan. Allowing his injury to prevent him from rejoining Team USA would have been a serious departure from what we've come to know of Paul George. In fact, George said the 2016 Olympics are a possibility: "Absolutely, it's in Brazil." “I would tell Myles, ‘Paul was good when he was here, but he’s really good now.’ That guy is great.”. Indiana Pacers All-Star Paul George suffered a gruesome right leg injury late in the U.S. national team’s intrasquad scrimmage Friday night. Back among the game's elite. Share. Just having players on the court increases the odds that something like the Paul George injury could happen. LAS VEGAS — Mason Plumlee of the Denver Nuggets paid a visit to the N.B.A.’s annual summer league here in the desert last month and, as a spectator, found his gaze drawn to the base of the baskets at the old Thomas & Mack Center. I don't think it will officially sink in until training camp's started, and I'm looking around, and I'm the face of it. ... to the point where the NBA has contemplated enforcing restrictions in future Olympics. "The injury two years ago has added motivation to want to play again!" That's behind me. "The way he's just handled everything: physically to be at the level he's at, emotionally, mentally ..." coach Mike Krzyzewski said. The Pacers missed the playoffs. George underwent surgery Aug. 2 and returned to Indianapolis on Aug. 5 to recover at home. The scary scenes that followed George’s harrowing landing won’t soon be forgotten by anyone who saw them — particularly from close range, in real time, like Plumlee did. George already restored his place in the basketball pecking order before this week, making third-team All-NBA and second-team All-Defensive in 2015-16 while putting up better overall numbers than he did for the Indiana Pacers in the season before "the injury." Indiana's core has been blown up: Frank Vogel now coaches the Orlando Magic; Roy Hibbert is on his second different team; David West is on his second different team; Lance Stephenson is on his third different team. George calls leg injury a freak accident and says criticism of USA Basketball unfounded ... Pacers' Paul George hopeful of playing in 2016 Olympics despite injury. That’s the reality even when both player and program can gratefully say, on this unpleasant five-year anniversary, that they have rebounded as well as anyone could have hoped. He was simply making an aggressive play and ended up slamming his foot against a basket stanchion and his leg bent in … It’s no wonder, then, that Plumlee, while watching the Nuggets’ summer league team, kept asking himself: “Did they really move the basket standards back?” In George’s case, despite the insistence afterward from the game’s organizers that conditions had been safe, there was considerable discussion that an insufficient distance between the stanchion and the baseline played a role in George’s injuries. Back fulfilling his reputation as a dominant talent on the court. American basketball player Paul George is hoping to meet with the French gymnast who suffered a graphic leg injury on Saturday, USA Today’s Sam Amick reports. Paul George's toe injury not a concern anymore? officials have numerous objectives Friday night, as they seek to narrow down the group they’re evaluating to 15 or so players entering the next phase of training camp in Los Angeles next week. Paul George tells reporters he's over the injury he suffered prior to the 2012 Olympics and says it was always his dream to win an Olympic gold medal. No such concerns are expected Friday night, when Plumlee and 25 other players vying for 12 spots on the next U.S. World Cup team will take part in a intrasquad scrimmage at T-Mobile Arena. He was able to put on the red, white, and blue at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro. Covered the Lakers and NBA for ESPNLosAngeles.com from 2009-14, the Cavaliers from 2014-18 for ESPN.com and the NBA for NBA.com from 2005-09. Two of George’s former Pacers teammates, Indiana’s Myles Turner and the recent Chicago Bulls signee Thaddeus Young, are among the frontcourt candidates alongside Plumlee for Popovich’s eventual 12-man roster. “Hard to watch,” Walker said, recalling the broadcast he watched that night while traveling in Atlanta. Paul George's injury reignited a relatively recent debate: Should the NBA allows its players to participate in FIBA events such as the World Cup and Olympics? Paul George was taken off the court on a stretcher in 2014 after sustaining an open fracture of the tibia and fibula in his right leg during a game with the men’s national team. It's about preparing for a gold medal. U.S.A.B. And, yes, Sin City’s 3-year-old sports venue is in compliance. With no James or Leonard, he'll team with Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony as the team's most versatile swingman. Owners and GMs united tonight: Paul George injury could be tipping point for use of stars in international play. George himself, of course, returned to the U.S. team two years after Vegas to play a key role on the squad that won gold at the 2016 Rio Olympics. "I'm just enjoying it. “Sad.”, Said Colangelo: “If Paul had gone down for the count, it would have been tragic for him and for us. ... Will Paul George’s injury change USA roster for 2016 Olympics? ", George looking to fulfill childhood dream in Rio (0:52), Paul George puts gruesome injury behind him, Olympic softball trio to play for UCLA, Arizona, Report: 70% of Olympic sports sought fed funds, Harper: No major leaguers in Olympics is 'dumb', UK Athletics review: 'General culture of mistrust', Ewing says his gold medals, NCAA ring stolen, Distance runner Ritzenhein announces retirement, Sun Yang appeals to Swiss court over doping ban, Larry Legend Q&A: Bird on Paul George's Team USA comeback, USA Basketball wins gold: Complete coverage. And it is. Paul Clifton Anthony George (born May 2, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He's back in Las Vegas this week. George quickly had surgery after the incident and miraculously recovered in time to play limited minutes in the season’s final six games eight months later. 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