British Basketball official accuses Chicago Bulls of pressurizing Luol Deng not to compete in London Olympics – NBA News
An official of the British Basketball team has accused the Chicago Bulls of forcing their star forward Luol Deng of opting out of the 2012 London Olympics so that he can recover from his wrist injury and be ready for the next season,
when it starts in November.
Chris Spice, performance director for British Basketball Association, made these claims while talking to the Chicago Tribune. He also said that because of Deng’s injury, his insurance for the Olympic Games could cost as much as
$400,000.
“His wrist situation will make this exorbitant premium even more expensive and we will have to make sacrifices to all our other programs if we are to make this happen” said Spice.
Luol Deng moved to England from his home country of Sudan with his family when civil war broke there. He was awarded citizenship by them in 2006 and has long held the desire to play in the Olympic Games for his adopted country.
After the Bulls were eliminated from the playoffs, Deng said that he had wanted to play in the Olympics since a child and was looking forward to fulfilling his childhood dream in London this year.
“I'm looking forward to playing in the Olympics. I've been dreaming about it since I was a young kid. It will be fantastic to play at home, in front of our own fans” Deng said recently in an interview to FIBA.com.
The Bulls are concerned about the health of Deng, particularly his left wrist which he injured this season while playing for the Bulls. He still has torn ligaments in his wrist and will require surgery to repair those tears.
If Deng goes forward with his plan of competing in the Olympics, his surgery will have to be postponed till after the Olympics which will have him missing the first 2-3 months of the 2012-2013 regular season.
Deng has two years left on his contract with the Bulls worth $27 million. The Bulls General Manger Gar Forman met with Deng after his team was eliminated from the playoffs to discuss his plans of participating in the Olympics.
No statement has been issued by any of the two since then and it remains to be seen what the two decided amongst themselves.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, the Bulls cannot prohibit Deng from competing in the Olympics.
“Luol Deng is hugely committed to the British Basketball program. He has maintained this stance despite recent pressure for him not to play after injuring his wrist during the highly demanding shortened NBA season. We admire and
support his stance” said Spike to the Tribune.
Spice’s comments have added to the speculation that all is not well between Deng and Bulls team management regarding the issue of his participation in the Olympics. It remains to be seen how Deng and the Bulls handle this issue
and whether they can peacefully resolve it and move forward.
Tags: