Paul George Leaving His Press Conference On Friday
An August 1st scrimmage for Team USA may have changed a whole lot of future basketball plans in the both the NBA and FIBA World Cup of Basketball. Indiana Pacers All-Star forward, Paul George went down with a horrific leg injury. Today, George spoke to the media for the first time since that injury.
ESPN.com reported that George is expecting to make a full recovery.
I plan on making a full recovery coming back from this,” George said at a news conference. “I’m taking this in a positive way. I get to sit back and watch the game — and just learn.”
Paul George said he expects to make a full recovery after suffering a gruesome lower right leg fracture during a Team USA scrimmage.
The timeline for recovery is unknown, George said, but added that he can start some knee rehab as early as next week.
While George says there is no timeline for his return, an injury of this magnitude typically would take about 12 to 18 months to fully recover from.
“I don’t know yet,” George said. “We don’t want to put a date on it or a time frame on it.”
George has already been declared out for the entire 2014-15 NBA season and the Pacers are expected to get some insurance money to possibly sign or acquire another player to try and soften the blow that is the George injury. That is something George feels horribly about.
“I feel guilty about not being there for the start of (the) season,” he said. “To not be a part of that, it hurts. Something I have to live with.
“The last thing I will do is feel like I am not a part of this team because I’m out.”
While he will miss some time, George in no way blames Team USA or FIBA for his injury. As gruesome and devastatingly hard to watch, George knows that no one is to blame for such an insane injury, that George himself even described.
“Freak accidents happen,” he said. “USA Basketball doesn’t deserve any criticism from this.”
George described the pain of the injury as if his leg were “set on fire” with gasoline, and that he was in total shock when the injury occurred.
“When I looked down and saw my bone sticking out, I knew it was bad,” George said.
George does hope to come back to full health soon and he also hopes to participate in the 2016 Olympic games.
