British Basketball have promised to find the money to make sure Luol Deng is able to lead Great Britain into the London Olympics despite insurance problems caused by his wrist injury.
Chicago Bulls star Deng played the second half of the season with a torn ligament in his left wrist, and although his team will not insist he undergo surgery until after the Games, the existence of the condition will mean Deng's NBA contract, worth US dollars 27 million (£17.2million) over the next two seasons, is not fully covered by the league's insurance deal for international competitions.
Britain has already had to pay for additional insurance for Deng in the past due to an old back injury, but the budget they have previously set aside would not be enough to cover the premiums they will be asked to find now.
A report on the Daily Telegraph's website today claimed it would cost British Basketball £300,000 to insure Deng's contract this summer, a huge sum for the governing body to find.
But performance director Chris Spice has responded by insisting they are committed to getting Deng on court while admitting it will come at a cost in other areas.
"Luol Deng is hugely committed to the British Basketball programme and he has maintained this stance, despite recent pressure for him not to play after injuring his wrist during the highly-demanding shortened NBA season," Spice said.
"We admire and support his stance. Luol is a true professional and manages his body extremely well, as shown by the high amount of minutes he was able to play for his club after sustaining the injury in January this year.
"We [British Basketball] pride ourselves on having an expert medical team for all our players and he will receive the best possible care when he is with us. Our world-leading staff are now widely known and accepted in the greater basketball community and we have worked very hard to build this reputation over the last six years.
"The insurance to cover Luol is always expensive due to his high value, and due to the back exclusion placed on him by the NBA's insurers some years ago.
"Our medical expert opinion remains that his back is no worse than others in the NBA but we have had to continue to cover this as we are contracted to do.
"Unfortunately, we have had no support from the NBA regarding this issue which remains a constant disappointment.
"His wrist situation will make this exorbitant premium even more expensive and we will have to make sacrifices to all our other programmes if we are to make this happen. It is difficult, but there is only one Luol Deng and there is only one London 2012 Olympic Games.
"In basketball terms we are a small and emerging nation with not a lot of resources but we have huge pride and great ambition.
"I am optimistic that we will find an affordable solution so that the best basketball player Great Britain has ever produced by some margin is able to take his rightful place alongside his team-mates in the London 2012 Olympic basketball tournament."
The 27-year-old Deng is due to join up with the Great Britain squad at next month's training camp in Houston.
