Paul George Breaks Leg in USA Basketball Intrasquad Exhibition Match, Could Miss Next NBA Season
Indiana Pacers All-Star Paul George sustained a gruesome lower right leg injury during the USA Basketball intrasquad exhibition match on Friday at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas that may force him to miss the 2014-15 NBA season.
George's leg slammed into the back-board stanchion and snapped after contesting James Harden's layup with 9:33 left in the final quarter of the scrimmage. After a 10-minute delay, the game was called off out of respect to the superstar forward and his family, who were present in the game.
"This is a first for us in USA Basketball to have something like this take place," USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said via Yahoo Sports. "It's a tough situation for our entire organization, the coaches, the players, very, very emotional. There's no way the game could have gone on under the circumstances."
George underwent surgery to repair the open tibia-fibula fracture after the match. The 24-year-old did not sustain additional damage, but he is still expected to miss the rest of next season because of the injury.
The former Fresno State standout, who averaged a career-best 21.7 points to go along with 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists last season, was expected to crack the final roster of the team that will compete in the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup in Spain later this month.
Colangelo said that losing George was a big blow to USA Basketball and Indiana Pacers. When asked about their roster plans following George's exit, Colangelo declined to comment.
"This is a tough blow, not only for USA basketball but for the Indiana Pacers," Colangelo said via ESPN. "And so as an organization we're just going to let a little time go by here before we address rosters. It seems so unimportant in the scheme of things. When you have something like this, it puts things in perspective."
Team USA's coaching staff planned to trim the roster down to 15 or 14 players on Saturday, but head coach Mike Krzyzewski said that the plan is on hold following the unfortunate incident.
"Everything's on hold, and it should be," Krzyzewski said. "It would be so inappropriate for us to talk about anything else when there is an injury like this."
Team USA will have a 12-day break before returning to training camp on Aug. 14 in Chicago.
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