Manu Ginobili Scheduled for Surgery

Coach Gregg Popovich must hate that he was right. The coach of the San Antonio Spurs had urged Manu Ginobili not to participate in the Beijing Olympics. There was concern about an ankle injury that needed rest and needed to heal completely. Nevertheless, Manu Ginobili played and reinjured himself. The result is surgery:

“Ginobili has ligament damage in his heel. He suffered the injury during the NBA playoffs and aggravated it during the Beijing Olympics.

“It’s the same as it was two months ago, when they did the first exam,” said Ginobili. “It’s not worse, which is important. Now, the thing is, it’s not better either, and it seems like the only way to repair it completely is arthroscopic surgery.”"

link: Spurs’ Ginobili going under the knife

Professional basketball franchises know that the Olympics and international play present a risk to them. Their most valuable business assets - their star players - may be injured. And even if the players avoid injury, it means additional intense basketball during the off season.

As Indiana Jones said to Marion Ravenwood in ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark’: “It’s not the years, honey; it’s the mileage”. And by the spring of 2009, during the NBA playoffs, many of the franchise stars will have played meaningful ball games for a sustained length of time, with just a very abbreviated off-season.

Catherine Forsythe