Pacers swingman Paul George is resting comfortably after surgery early Saturday morning.
George suffered a right leg, open tibia-fibula fracture while playing in USA Basketball’s intrasquad scrimmage in Las Vegas Friday night in preparation of the FIBA World Cup.
While coming down after contesting a fast-break layup by James Harden, George’s lower-right leg snapped the on basketball stanchion. Players and fans knew it was something serious right away. It was so gruesome that ESPN, which had the TV broadcast, opted not show additional replays.
After George had what was deemed “successful surgery,” Pacers President Larry Bird released the following statement:
“Our first thoughts are with Paul and his family. It is way too early to speculate on his return as the No. 1 priority for everyone will be his recovery. Our initial discussions with our doctors and the doctors in Las Vegas have us very optimistic. We are hopeful at some point next week Paul will return to Indianapolis to continue his recovery.
“There is no question about the impact on our team but our goal is to be as strong-willed and determined as Paul will be in coming back. Our franchise has had setbacks in its history but has demonstrated the abilities to recover. Paul will provide the example of that off the court and it is up to the rest of us to provide that example on the court. Any discussion regarding the future of our team would be inappropriate at this time. Our focus is solely on Paul and doing whatever we can to help.
”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.
“Finally, the Pacers would like to thank our fans and the NBA community for their outreach of support in the brief amount of time since the injury occurred. It has been overwhelming and it is what makes Indiana and the NBA special.”