It was late at night while Team USA was in the midst of a scrimmage preparing for the FIBA World Cup when Paul George of the Indiana Pacers broke his lower leg. In the middle of the fourth quarter, George tried to chase down James Harden on a fast break. When he landed his right leg was caught underneath the basket, snapping his lower leg. Multiple superstars showed support for Paul George. George suffered a compound fracture of his tibia and fibula, effectively ending his season. According to Indianapolis Star’s Candace Buckner, Kobe Bryant was one of many to reach out.
"But I've heard that Kobe Bryant and other superstars have personally reached out to Paul George tonight. #NBAFamily"
— Candace Buckner (@CandaceDBuckner) August 2, 2014
George is young and is becoming one the league's brightest starts. In the each past two seasons, George was named an All-Star and NBA Third-Team. This year George led the Pacers to their second straight Eastern Conference Finals. Growing up in Palmdale, California, George was always a huge fan of Kobe. George said Kobe was his all-time favorite player.
Larry Bird and the Indiana Pacers are completely supportive of Team USA as was stated in a statement released by Bird via NBA.com:
"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."
