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http://myespn.go.com/blogs/truehoop/0-33-180/Your-NBA-Contract-Might-Clash-With-Your-National-Team.html

Your NBA Contract Might Clash With Your National Team

The Great Britain team is in the fight of its life, trying to keep Luol Deng on the team.

What's the big obstacle? Is he hurt? Something wrong with his passport?

No. It's nothing like that. It's more about the fact that, thanks to his new contract, he's a little tough to insure.

Ian Whittell, writing on Basketball247, writes:

Deng, 23, signed a lucrative new deal with the Chicago Bulls two weeks ago after passing a battery of medical tests.

But the NBA's New York insurance company, which must cover all NBA players before they can play for their national teams, has refused to completely insure that contract because of an old back injury.

Deng missed three games in November with a minor back problem and the insurance broker's decision is based on an MRI scan taken then. Although a policy has been issued it does not cover that part of the player's body.

Under an arrangement with world-governing body FIBA, the NBA is obliged to release any player who wishes to play for his national team but only if insurance requirements are totally met. ...

GB officials were last night exploring their options and preparing to lodge an appeal with the NBA -- a step which sources claim would be futile.

The only other alternative would be for the GB federation to negotiate with the Bulls and insure Deng's contract themselves which is likely to prove impossible after the NBA's decision.

Deng has been training with the team for much of this summer, and last summer. He's excited to play for Great Britain. Deng is, essentially, the great hope of the sport in Great Britain, as that country prepares to host the Olympics in four years.

Deng is not the first NBA player to have this problem. He's wrestling with an issue that has dogged Zydrunas Ilgauskas and others.

It's a small point, in the big picture, but as the NBA is increasingly competing with top overseas teams for talent, it's probably not great for non-American players to learn the NBA's own insurance company can keep them from their national teams.

The only other alternative would be for the GB federation to negotiate with the Bulls and insure Deng's contract themselves which is likely to prove impossible after the NBA's decision.

Dunkenstein wrote:

The only other alternative would be for the GB federation to negotiate with the Bulls and insure Deng's contract themselves which is likely to prove impossible after the NBA's decision.

I believe this paragraph is inaccurate. It isn't the NBA's decision that's keeping Deng from playing for GB. It's the decision of the league's insurance company not to insure Deng's back against further injury that's the problem. The Bulls have have made a sizable investment in Deng and are already on the hook for his salary if his back gets injured playing an NBA game. It would be foolish to risk all that money should Deng get injured while playing for GB. It's my understanding that the league's insurer has chosen not to insure Ilgauskas's feet. And he has been unable to play for Lithuania in international competition because the Lithuanians are unwilling or unable to pay for the insurance necessary to cover any injury to his feet that might occur in preparation for or during international competition.

Dunkenstein wrote:Moreover, I think the author is inaccurate when he says that it would be "impossible" for GB to insure Deng's contract because of any decision by the NBA or it's insurer. From what I understand, neither the Bulls nor the NBA should stand in the way of GB insuring the full amount of Deng's contract against a back injury, thus allowing him to play for GB. It would no doubt be an expensive proposition, but might be a worthwhile investment for Britain since they are hosting the games and I believe their basketball team gets an automatic bid to play in the Olympics.

Tommy Udo 6 wrote:It is my understanding that Deng's contract with Bulls has the standard insurance protection of most NBA contracts. There is no exclusion for "back injuries". It is the coverage while playing for GB (non-NBA) that is the issue.

Is this accurate?

Dekko1 wrote:They get 20 exclusions. 6 players totally and 14 body parts.

LarryCoon wrote:

Dekko1 wrote:They get 20 exclusions. 6 players totally and 14 body parts.

Good call on their part to use one of those 14 exclusions on Ron Artest's brain....