Paul George Has A Guaranteed Roster Spot For The 2016 Olympics

Paul George, who broke his leg a week ago during a Team USA scrimmage, will be given a roster spot no matter what for the 2016 Olympics. Here's what Jerry Colangelo, the managing director of USA basketball, said Thursday:

"We've told him we have a spot for him in '16," Colangelo told NBA.com at festivities Thursday in advance of the Friday enshrinement of the Hall of Fame class.

…

"We thought it's the right thing to do," Colangelo said. "That's it…. We didn't give thought to all the detail. Just that when a guy goes down and all these things, the circumstances, his career passes before him, he's out for a year, a year-plus, he's not able to participate now with us — we wanted to throw that out and say, 'We're counting on you. You've got a spot in '16.' "

A George tribute is also in the works for the upcoming FIBA World Cup. USA Basketball wants to add a uniform patch in honor of George, but FIBA doesn't allow uniform alterations of that sort, so USA Basketball is considering pushing for a rule change to fully commemorate their injured player.

That's nice and all, but between all these gestures and that self-serious, faux-elegiac, black-and-white Nike ad and the griefier-than-thou mourning on Twitter, I'd say we're about a day or two from someone announcing a 21-gun salute from the deck of the Nimitz and the installation of an eternal flame outside the Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

[ NBA]