Colangelo: Paul George has automatic spot on 2016 U.S. team

Paul George was coming off of a career year and was a virtual lock to make the American FIBA World Cup squad this summer before suffering a gruesome leg injury last week.

But while there are no guarantees that the two-time All-Star and All-NBA forward will regain his peak form, George does have a guarantee of a roster spot on the U.S. team in 2016, according to director of USA Basketball Jerry Colangelo.

Via Scott Howard-Cooper of NBA.com:

“We’ve told him we have a spot for him in ’16,” Colangelo told NBA.com at festivities Thursday in advance of the Friday enshrinement of the Hall of Fame class.

Without seeing how he comes back?

“Right,” said Colangelo, also the Hall chairman. “That’s what we told him.

“We thought it’s the right thing to do,” Colangelo said. “That’s it…. We didn’t give thought to all the detail. Just that when a guy goes down and all these things, the circumstances, his career passes before him, he’s out for a year, a year-plus, he’s not able to participate now with us — we wanted to throw that out and say, ‘We’re counting on you. You’ve got a spot in ’16.’"

Colangelo also noted that the team is planning some sort of tribute to George at the World Cup. “As far as the players are concerned, this is a rallying point in terms of what happened to Paul,” Colangelo said. “We just want to take some steps that are yet to be determined that we’re talking about to bring attention to Paul George and what his contribution has been.”

George is expected to miss the entire 2014-15 season after surgery to repair an open tibia-fibula fracture. The U.S. begin their World Cup journey, without George or Kevin Durant, against Finland on August 30.