Providing a stark contrast to the horrific compound leg fracture that Paul George suffered with Team USA on Friday is Manu Ginobili's absence from the FIBA World Cup.
Ginobili, who had hoped to represent Argentina, was ruled out of the tournament after the San Antonio Spurs cited medical concerns following an inconclusive examination of his injured right fibula. Because of a clause in the agreement between the NBA and FIBA, the Spurs were within their rights to keep Ginobili from participating in the event.
At 37 years of age, Ginobili is likely missing out on his last chance to represent Argentina. And on Monday, he published a column in his home country's La Nacion - an outlet for which he's written in the past - expressing how "sad and disappointed he is" about not playing at the World Cup.
Per La Nacion via San Antonio Express-News:
I very much regret the bad news. I wanted to say goodbye to the team on the court and be with my friends, but it cannot be. I’ll be with the team as long as possible, trying to add from the outside and supporting at all times.
He also wrote about how the pain in his right ankle and foot reemerged almost instantly upon returning to training.
For the bone to be well sealed and not remain any doubts, I had spent 42 days without being able to train as usual, no jumping or running, so as not to put stress on the fibula. And that made me reach the training camp in a painful physical condition. When one is 37 years old, it is not easy to return and start from nothing, so we tried to accelerate a little at a time. I started the physical work in the pool acceptably, but when I went to the treadmill there began to emerge some pain, mostly in the right ankle and left foot.
I did a lot of treatment and a lot of stretching, and it seemed to be a little better, but when on Wednesday I began to force more to run and shoot in the gym, at the end of the training session the pain reappeared in the same place of the original fibular fracture. That basically gave the final blow to the expectations I had to assemble some kind of plan to play in Spain, since asking the mediation of FIBA made almost no sense given that obviously the injury isn’t completely healed.
