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The recent wave of decommitals from USA Basketball has been largely caused by a mix of an untimely scheduling, a wild free agency and an apathy toward non-Olympic competition. Yet many remember Paul George's crushing injury during a White vs. Blue scrimmage that saw him break his leg on the stanchion after chasing down a block from behind.
Kemba Walker, the team's likely starter at point guard, was asked if he viewed George’s story as a cautionary tale before accepting the invitation to join this quest for a gold medal at the upcoming FIBA World Cup:
Article Continues Below“No, sir,” the Boston Celtics point man told Marc Stein of The New York Times.
USA Basketball's managing director Jerry Colangelo still recalls the chain of events once George sustained such a devastating injury:
“It was a travesty when it took place, and it just put us back on our heels,” said Colangelo at the eve of Friday’s scrimmage. “But time has a way of healing. The fact that Paul came back all the way and it didn’t affect his career, it kind of minimized what transpired.”
George would eventually come back to join Team USA before heading to the Rio 2016 Olympics, playing a key part in their gold medal win by assuming Dwyane Wade's old role of super sub and being the 3-and-D presence the team needed coming off the bench.
Injuries are a part of basketball, whether it's played in the league or outside of it. George was the unfortunate case of the nature of the sport, but luckily he was able to recover and return an even better player than he was before he suffered the injury, recently finishing the 2018-19 season as an MVP finalist.
