NBA Star Ben Gordon Cant Play for Great Britain Due to Insurance Issues

Detroit Pistons guard, Ben Gordon is at the centre of controversy as he won’t play for Britain in this year’s EuroBasket finals in preparation for the Olympics in 2012 because he couldnt reach an agreement on insurance with the national team.

Their failure to achieve a deal followed complications linked to the current National Basketball Association lockout, British Basketball said in an e-mailed statement.

For a agreement to be had the National team would have to pay 40 percent of insurance fees for Gordon, performative director for British Basketball, Chris Spice explained. The insurance agreement between the NBA and the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) doesn’t cover lockout periods.

“We have done our best to provide a cover that is close to what we would have had in a normal season, but in the end things didn’t work out from a financial or scope-of-cover perspective,” Spice said today in the statement. The team is still hoping to make an arrangement with Gordon in time for next year’s Olympics, according to the statement.

Britain got insurance last week for the EuroBasket games with 26-year-old Chicago Bulls star forward Luol Deng.

“You don’t get much change from 100,000 pounds ($164,000),” Spice said yesterday of Deng’s arrangement, following a warm-up game in Cobham, outside London, where Britain beat the Netherlands 96-70. British Basketball didn’t have an estimate of what it would cost to insure Gordon.

Gordon, a 28-year-old London native, was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year, denoting the best substitute player, as a rookie with the Bulls. He hasn’t played internationally for Britain.

NBA Owners have been in a lockout since July 1.