The pendulum has swung to the other side.
No doubt what happened to Paul George was gruesome. In the fourth quarter of a relatively meaningless USA Basketball exhibition, one of the NBA’s rising stars goes up to block a James Harden shot, comes down with his foot on the base of too-close basketball stanchion and shatters his leg. He’s done for the next year, at least. Whether he is ever the same remains to be seen (although we all hope so).
It scared owners and GMs who have long feared such a thing, and they leaned on their media sources about how this could be a tipping point for major NBA players in international competitions.
They don’t like to see the guys they are paying millions of dollars, play for free internationally and risking these kinds of injuries.
[POOLE: Team USA should brace for changes]
Could what happened to George impact the USA’s roster for the 2016 Olympics in Rio?
Probably not much.
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