With the city of London hosting the 2012 Olympics, things seem to be far from settled in the Team Great Britain camp.
Basketball sensation Luol Deng, may be prevented from playing any games with his national team, because of insurance clauses included in his new contract with Chicago Bulls.
Great Britain Basketball [GBB] officials fear that the insurance problems that are preventing Deng from playing for his country at the moment will also 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 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.
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 caught the eyes of Met Life when he recently signed a massive $71 million contract on a six-year deal.
GBB officials are working on the assumption that they will have to cough up a similar fee every summer between now and the London Olympics to allow Deng to play—a total cost of $2.5 million for a programme that runs on an annual budget of about £1.5 million.
“This is a devastating blow,” said Chris Spice, the GBB performance director.
“If Luol doesn't participate this season, or any other season leading up to London 2012, 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.”
Of course, there is one solution to this whole problem—Mr. Deng could just fork out the the money himself.
If he wants to play for his "adopted" country, even though he does not live here or pay taxes, why doesn't he fork out the insurance money?
A very, very small drop in the ocean, as far as he would be concerned
This could potentially be a long saga—one that the GGB doesn't necessarily need with everything else that is going on.
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