Garbajosa 'Free' to Play For Spain

Call this the summer of ridiculous insurance policies for NBA players wishing to represent their home country in international competition. Boris Diaw and the French hoops federation combined to convince the Suns the franchise would be financially protected if Boom Boom broke something at Eurobasket. For Toronto's Jorge Garbajosa, it took until the 11th hour (and then some) to get clearance to play for Spain.

It took a series of all-night meetings and negotiations involving the Raptors, the Spanish basketball federation and insurance companies before the 29-year-old got final approval to play.

The Raptors, mindful of Garbajosa's place on their roster and the $8.4 million (U.S.) they owe him over the next two seasons, aren't overjoyed that he'll play, but the insurance issue gave them enough peace of mind to withdraw their objections.

Jorge has repeated how important pulling on a Spanish team jersey is to him, and that's fantastic. We should note, though, that Spain has little but pride to play for this month. As the defending world champions, Spain already has an Olympic bid sewn up. I'm sure they'd love to be European champions again... but is it enough to risk Garbo's burgeoning NBA career? I'm sure no one's forgotten his gruesome leg injury which has caused all this trepidation.

Meanwhile, Garbo's success in this issue gets Toronto out of playing the part of heel. Funny, these ultra-international NBA teams -- the Raps, San Antonio, Phoenix -- are the ones creating hurdles for their players to go overseas in the summer. (The Spurs essentially told Manu Ginobili and Fabricio Oberto 'no' and made Tony Parker get insurance.)