San Antonio Spurs guard Tony Parker has been vocal in stating that he would not play with the French Naitonal Team if he wasn’t insured.
That appears to no longer be an issue as, according to a report on FIBA.com (via SBNation), France has obtained insurance for its NBA players, including Parker.
Lockout or no lockout – the French will have their NBA players at EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania.
The country’s basketball federation (FFBB) announced early Tuesday evening that it has obtained insurance for its NBA players.
“Even before the formalization of the NBA lockout on July 1, 2011, the French Basketball Federation began working on insurance contracts of employment of selected players, in particular by proposing a pooling of insurance for all the federations concerned,” an FFBB statement said.
“To this day, and thanks to this French initiative, the coverage of the players is finalized.”
With that issue out of the way, Les Bleus should be carrying a full roster when they start Eurobasket 2011 in Lithuania on August 31.
Parker and France will be looking for an Olympic bid, and the services of their NBA players wil definitely help them in that regard.
With Parker and Tiago Splitter insured, Manu Ginobili is the only other Spurs player that has yet to be insured for international play.
