Jorge Garbajosa needs surgery that will end his season and that puts the Raptors in a no-win situation with the Spanish star and his fans
TorontoSun.com - Basketball - Jorge Garbajosa needs surgery that will end his season and that puts the Raptors in a no-win situation with the Spanish star and his fans
Now the Raps have no idea when Garbajosa will be ready to play again. They can’t force him to have surgery but they don’t believe he’s healthy enough to play. Complicating matters is the insurance issue. The Raptors and the European company that holds the policy purchased by Spanish basketball will have to come to some sort of resolution.
Spanish basketball paid a $1-million premium on a policy to cover Garbajosa’s $4-million salary. Now Toronto, believing that the player incurred further injury by playing for Spain, wants to invoke the policy. That’s just business. What they really want is a healthy Garbajosa setting a hard-nosed example for his teammates. Yes, Spain won its much-coveted European championship at home but it cost them a $1-million insurance premium. Even the insurance company probably will lose, if they have to pay Garbajosa’s $4-million salary.
The Raptors are being painted as the bad guys in some precincts of the Spanish media. The home folks believe Garbajosa to be perfectly healthy and that the Raptors are simply punishing him for defying their wishes that he not play for Spain. The Raps also are being accused of chasing the insurance money.
The sad truth is that Garbajosa is just not the player he was last season and whether he wants to admit it or not, he likely needs the surgery.
To this point, according to sources, there is no deep-seated rift between Garbajosa and the Raptors. He still wants to play for them and they want the same thing, though they want him in a healthy state.
For that to happen, he eventually will have to give in and accept that further surgery is necessary.
This story still has legs. Wherever those legs take it, the suspicion is it will be nowhere good for anyone.
Nov 29th, 2007 at 10:48 pm
[...] Jorge Garbajosa needs surgery that will end his season and that …Now Toronto, believing that the player incurred further injury by playing for Spain, wants to invoke the policy. That’s just business. What they really want is a healthy Garbajosa setting a hard-nosed example for his teammates. … [...]