The Golden State Warriors recently acquired big man, power forward David Lee, suffered a finger injury Tuesday while practicing with Team USA and is expected to be unable to play for the next six weeks according to AOL Fanhouse’s Chris Tomasson.
The tendon injury, termed ‘mallet finger’, is a deformity of the finger caused when a tendon is damaged.
“We’re very disappointed as much for him as for us,‘’ said USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo said of Lee, who flew to California to be examined Wednesday morning by Warriors Dr. Bill Green. "He wanted to play right now. He wanted to come back right now but there’s no way we would allow him to do that because he’s not going to have surgery. And the splint will take care of it. But he has to be in a splint for about six weeks. Because, if he did play and he hit that finger again, that would be surgery. So we’re not going to do that.’’
The head coach of Team USA, Mike Krzyzewski, said that Lee was really looking forward to representing the United States in Turkey this Summer.
“I feel badly for him because he really wanted to play,‘’ Krzyzewski said. "He even said, ’Coach, I’ll see the doctor. I’ll even pay the expenses of a private plane to get me down here.’ I felt bad for him. Last summer, he was going through contract (negotiations while with New York) and he couldn’t play then. … He’ll be fine for the NBA season even for (the start of training camp).’’