Larry Bird says he supports Team USA ‘100 percent’
By Josh Hill
The Paul George injury that happened on Friday night during a scrimmage for Team USA was brutal and gruesome and it may end up either derailing or significantly setting back the Indiana Pacers season.
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But one thing it’s not producing is sour grapes from the Pacers, who lost their superstar on a freak accident play that occurred during a game that wasn’t at all meaningful in any way.
Larry Bird has spoken about the injury and has said not only that he’s not holding a grudge against Team USA for putting his superstar in a situation where his leg nearly snapped off at the ankle, but says he fully supports Team USA along with all of the Indiana Pacers.
Per Ramona Shelburne and Brian Windhorst of ESPN:
"“We still support USA Basketball and believe in the NBA’s goals of exposing our game, our teams and players worldwide. This is an extremely unfortunate injury that occurred on a highly-visible stage, but could also have occurred anytime, anywhere.”"
It’s a pretty incredible thing that Bird isn’t at all mad about the injury, but then again it’s a tricky grey area where he’d be getting made at America, and people generally don’t like that. Still, Bird is likely miffed behind closed doors, but who’s to say this didn’t happen anyway at a later date, as freak injuries like this have happened to even the best in the NBA in the past.
Be sure to check FanSided.com’s official NBA page to keep up to date on the latest news and rumors from around the league all summer long.