When they start talking about insurance in professional sports, it's pretty much a sure thing that the fun has made like the air out of a punctured birthday balloon: pffft - it's all gone.
That's where things are for Jorge Garbajosa and the Toronto Raptors. Last night the team announced the hard-nosed and hard-headed Spanish forward would require further surgery on his leg and ankle. The news finally brings some certainty to a lengthy saga involving doctors, agents, lawyers, insurance people and media in two continents and several countries, and likely ending Garbajosa's season as well.
Bryan Colangelo, the president and general manager of the Raptors, didn't want to comment on the situation yesterday, and not just because the last thing he wants to do is confirm that the tireless Spanish media, who were reporting days ago that Garbajosa was done, were correct.
The whole affair has reached the stage where what is said and how could have far-reaching financial implications. Somewhere, lawyers are taking notes. For those who aren't aware of the twists and turns, a summary:
Garbajosa breaks his leg on March 26 in an NBA game against the Boston Celtics and has surgery shortly afterward in Toronto.
The prognosis is a six-month recovery, which conveniently (the reasonable, if Raptors-centric, view) has Garbajosa ready to begin practising when training camp starts on Oct. 1.
The prognosis also means Garbajosa, a star for the Spanish national team, would be unable to play at the European championship in September. Cue the conspiracy theorists - the Spanish basketball federation, maybe even Garbajosa and definitely the Spanish media.
On Aug. 10, Garbajosa is examined by the Raptors' medical staff and it's determined he has a non-union fracture of the fibula. In other words, his leg is still broken. He's advised to have another operation (teams can't require players to have surgery) that would likely have him ready to play for the Raptors in January.
Garbajosa gets medical advice in Spain suggesting he can play without the surgery, following an example set by volleyball players and soccer players, if not 6-foot-9, 245-pound basketball players expected to be available for 89 exhibition and regular-season games, with playoffs to follow.
The Raptors at first refuse to allow Garbajosa to play, although he insists he's fit as a fiddle. But the Raptors relent after Garbajosa pushes and the Spanish basketball federation finds someone who will insure the remaining $8-million (U.S.) on his NBA contract for 90 days at a cost of $1-million. That policy will expire Friday.
Garbajosa gets through the European championship without incident and reports no leg problems since joining the Raptors for training camp, although his playing time slides because, the thinking goes, he has lost some quickness and agility since the surgery.
Garbajosa begs to differ, often in Spanish.
On Nov. 18, he has a previously scheduled magnetic resonance imaging test that reveals "a change" in his condition, and he's placed on the inactive list.
And that's just the bare bones of it, pardon the pun. The further down you swim in this thing, the murkier it gets.
Yesterday, Raptors guard Jose Calderon let on that Garbajosa had been participating in Spanish national team practices for five weeks before the European championship started on Sept. 3. Given that the Raptors had cleared Garbajosa only for rehabilitative training (non-contact basketball), it's an issue that could get sticky.
Similarly, about a month after Garbajosa was allowed to begin weight-bearing exercise, it was discovered that screws holding his leg together had shifted, further proof that his return to training was anything but slow and steady.
Which brings us to a spot that no player as proud as Garbajosa ever wants to be: He's done for the season without having played a meaningful moment. And it's ironic that the qualities the Raptors value so highly - his passion, loyalty and tenacity, not to mention the pain threshold of wood - are those that have likely cost him his season, if not more.
What went wrong? If you listen to voices out of Spain, the Raptors are simply making sure Garbajosa's leg is fixed with an eye toward making an insurance claim by proving the condition of his leg deteriorated during the period he was insured.
If you listen to the Raptors - or at least read the tea leaves, as club officials are playing it pretty close on this one - Garbajosa is a victim of his own hard-headed pride, and a lack of guidance from Spanish interests blinded by the chance to win Spain's first European championship.
If you listen to Garbajosa, all he ever wanted to do was play basketball, probably too much.
And if you're a Raptors fan?
All you can know for sure is your team is not as good as it could be, and it could have been prevented. There's not much fun in that.
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