Luol Deng insurance doubt for London 2012

Great Britain Basketball [GBB] officials fear that the insurance problems that are preventing Luol Deng, the Chicago Bulls forward, from playing for his country will rule him out of the 2012 Olympic Games in London and even put Britain's involvement in the tournament in doubt.

The sport's governing body has seven days to find $500,000 (about £272,000) for an additional insurance premium if Deng, who is an ambassador for London 2012, is to take his place in the qualifying campaign for next year's European Championship A division finals, starting against Israel in Tel Aviv a week today.

The root of the problem lies with MetLife, the NBA's insurer, which covers the top 150 salaries in the American league on a group policy. Under the terms of its agreement with the NBA, MetLife has the right to exclude 14 high-risk players every year, a decision based on the individual's injury history and the amount of money remaining on his contract.

Deng came under the company's spotlight when he signed a new $71million, six-year contract at the start of this month, the fourth-highest contract in the league at present in terms of outstanding money. MetLife subsequently used an MRI scan taken last November when Deng, 23, injured his back and missed three games to exclude him from the coverage.

Exhaustive work has produced a quotation of $500,000 for supplementary cover and GBB officials are working on the assumption that they will have to unearth a similar fee every summer between now and the London Olympics to allow Deng to play - a total cost of $2.5million for a programme that runs on an annual budget of about £1.5million.

“This is a devastating blow,” Chris Spice, the GBB performance director, said. “If Luol doesn't participate this season or any other season leading up to London, there is no question our involvement is in doubt. The world governing body [Fiba] has not been very specific, but we know from discussions that we need to be playing in the A division tournament in Europe to be given a place in the Olympics.

“If we fall out of the A division next year and cannot participate in the A division for [the 2011 European Championships], there is a real possibility we will not play in London.”

TMC wrote:Well... Yeah, sucks... But if Luol Deng really wants to play for England, I don't know how they can stop him. It's that easy. If the player wants to play, he plays.

bigstrads wrote:When you say "If the player wants to play, he plays" do you mean he should stump up the money himself?

TMC wrote:

bigstrads wrote:When you say "If the player wants to play, he plays" do you mean he should stump up the money himself?

I'm just saying that Garbajosa had insurance problems to play for Spain last year in the European Championship and said he was going to play no matter what... and he played.

If the player wants to play, there's always a way without losing money.

bigstrads wrote:Ohh ok, so its just abit of dooming and glooming from the media............I presumed that if he the player isnt covered from an insurance standpoint, then the players team wouldnt release him for international duty.

bigstrads wrote:Although, Garbajosa was on what? $780,000 a year? and a one year deal as well.............where as if Deng gets hurt bad, then someone is owed 71 million over the next 6 years!!!

TMC wrote:

bigstrads wrote:Ohh ok, so its just abit of dooming and glooming from the media............I presumed that if he the player isnt covered from an insurance standpoint, then the players team wouldnt release him for international duty.

Toronto never allowed him to join the national team, but he decided to do it anyway...

bigstrads wrote:Although, Garbajosa was on what? $780,000 a year? and a one year deal as well.............where as if Deng gets hurt bad, then someone is owed 71 million over the next 6 years!!!

The contract does not matter. At all. The player is the only one that decides if he's gonna play or not, unless there's a no-play clause in his contract (and it's not usual).

xbay wrote:I'm not sure how it works... does Great Britain automatically qualify for a spot in the pool play since they're the host country? Or do they still have to qualify for it? Because if it's number two, then I have a hard time believing we'll see the British play basketball in 2012. Perhaps we'll see Azubuike play for them, though? He was born in England.

Thunder wrote:So who is on the squad (if everything were to work out) for England? And is it England or do you compete as Great Britain for the Olympics (might make a difference if the Scots have some players)?

I'm guessing:

G - Gordon
G - Azubuike
SF - Deng
PF - Joel Freeland??
C - . . . . Peter Crouch?

Great Britain won 163-119 on aggregate and succeeded in qualifying to Division A of FIBA Europe national basketball and now have the chance to qualify for EuroBasket 2009[3]. Playing in the A division is the principal criterion that Team Great Britain must fulfil to earn a host berth in the London 2012 Olympics. During the 6 EuroBasket Division B qualifying games, GB won by an average score of over 25 points per game, holding the lead in those games for 237 out of 240 minutes

bigstrads wrote:Joel Freeland??? I dont know where he is actually? he isnt mentioned anywhere and is not on any of the Team GB team lists and what not.........who knows, still quite abit of time for players to come out of the woodwork.

TMC wrote:

bigstrads wrote:Joel Freeland??? I dont know where he is actually? he isnt mentioned anywhere and is not on any of the Team GB team lists and what not.........who knows, still quite abit of time for players to come out of the woodwork.

Funnily enough, he's playing here in Las Palmas... although riding the pine could be a more accurate description.

He's a PF, although he might play some center, but he's definitely a 4. Problem is... he's just a backup. And not having enough talent to start in an european league is not a good sign, even if we're talking about one of the top european leagues.

bigstrads wrote:Yeah, I saw he played in the Canary Islands but wasnt sure if that was current or not.

bigstrads wrote:Not a good sign, as you say, that he cant win a starting place.............Las Palmas arent all that either are they? the real gauge I suppose is how the good players are ahead of him?

bigstrads wrote:What did the Blazers see in him to draft him Number 30 in 2006???...........Ive never heard of the guy at all.

bigstrads wrote:Man, just when I was beginning to get slightly excited that the UK would finally be able to field a team in the London 2012 Olympics............this crops up =

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/ ... e?rss=true