GB’s Injury Woes Continue, Deng Out

Great Britain were faced with further Olympic injury worries today after Luol Deng was confirmed out with a torn ligament in his left wrist.

It remains unclear how long Deng will be out for, but Bulls Head Coach Tom Thibodeau has said it will be “a while”.

The 6’9″ GB star opted not to have surgery on the injury, which would’ve potentially kept him out even longer, stating a run at the title with the Bulls plays a role:

“I really feel like we have a very good chance of doing something special. And I feel like without the surgery I’ll be fine. I just know what I can do with it and what I can’t do. And I really think I’m going to be very effective out there. There’s going to be days when it’s sore.

“It could always be worse. Injuries happen. And this happened in the fourth quarter of a game. But it is what is. It’s just, ‘What do we do from here.’ I’m very confident that I’ll be fine. It’s sore, but the soreness is going down a lot in two days. So every day [I’ll] keep treating it and see if I can get rid of the soreness and just try to be back there as soon as possible.”

Deng is averaging 15.9 points and 7.5 rebounds for the league-leading 16-3 Bulls, being such an integral part of the team that some believe it is impossible for them to win a title without him.

The injury, which occurred in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game against the Charlotte Bobcats, puts Deng on the injured list with Joel Freeland, Eric Boateng and more recently, Nate Reinking, who went down at the weekend with a knee injury.

Deng’s wrist no doubt causes concern for GB, with Performance Director Chris Spice saying they are “monitoring the situation”.

Source: ESPN