Unable to play for Argentina at the FIBA Basketball World Cup this summer, San Antonio Spurs dynamo Manu Ginobili admits that he more than likely won’t hoop internationally again. Per Reuters:
“Today, I can say for almost certain, 98 percent, that I won’t play any more (for Argentina),” the 37-year-old said in an interview with the Buenos Aires daily La Nacion published on Saturday.
The NBA has an agreement with the sport’s world governing body FIBA which stipulates that only players and not clubs can refuse their country’s invitation to play for the national team except for a “reasonable medical concern.” […] The Spurs invoked this clause to prevent Ginobili from playing for Argentina in Spain at the tournament starting on Aug. 30 because of lingering effects of his injury.
Ginobili said he normally does not feel any pain but “when I jump, push or brake on the parquet (floor) is when it starts hurting. […] “If I’d played this tournament it would have been the last, that’s sure… It’s hard and it always will be to retire from this (Argentina) team,” said Ginobili, a member of his country’s so-called golden generation.
