Indiana Pacers star small forward Paul George suffered a serious injury to his lower right leg early in the fourth quarter of the US national team’s intrasquad scrimmage on Friday night. The remainder of the game, which was taking place at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Center, was cancelled shortly after.
George, after chasing James Harden down on a breakaway after a turnover, landed hard after trying to contest Harden’s shot, and appeared to snap his leg against the basket stanchion.
While the severity of the injury is not yet known, ESPN Medical Analyst Dr. Michael Kaplan speculated that it could take George 9-12 months to make a full recovery.
After being treated on the court for about 15 minutes, George was transported to a Las Vegas hospital. He later took to Twitter:
Thanks everybody for the love and support.. I'll be ok and be back better than ever!!! Love y'all!! #YoungTrece
— Paul George (@Paul_George24) August 2, 2014
Team USA coach Mike Krzyzewski spoke on the matter following the game.
“Everything is on hold right now, and it should be,” he said. It would be inappropriate to talk about anything else when there’s a serious injury like this. It was a very emotional setting. There’s a brotherhood in the NBA. To me, a family or brotherhood shows its heart and depth at a time like this.”
Indiana Pacers team president Larry Bird released the following statement late Friday night:
“We are aware of the injury sustained by Paul George in Friday night’s Team USA game in Las Vegas and we are obviously greatly concerned. At this time our thoughts and prayers are with Paul. We are still gathering details and will have an updated statement Saturday.”
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