Paul George suffers serious leg injury at Team USA scrimmage

Indiana Pacers forward Paul George suffered a serious leg injury at a USA Basketball intrasquad scrimmage on Friday in the fourth quarter at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV. He had to be stretchered off the court, and the diagnosis wasn't immediately clear, but his right leg looked like it might be broken. He was attempting to block James Harden, when he landed awkwardly. 

"We don't know," USA chairman Jerry Colangelo said, via ESPN, when asked about the severity of the injury after George was taken to hospital. "Everyone saw what we saw. That's for the medical team to see."

NBA commissioner Adam Silver also weighed in: "It was difficult to watch the injury that Paul George sustained tonight while representing his country," he said in a statement. "The thoughts and prayers of all of us at the NBA are with Paul and his family."

George tweeted thanks to his followers after he was taken away in an ambulance:

Pacers President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird also released a statement via the team's official Twitter account. George averaged 21.7 points, 6.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists a game last season. 

We are aware of the injury sustained by Paul George in Friday night's Team USA game in Las Vegas and we are obviously greatly concerned. At this time our thoughts and prayers are with Paul. We are still gathering details and will have an updated statement Saturday.

As medics took George to the hospital, coach Mike Krzyzewski announced that the rest of the game would be canceled.

"In respect to Paul and his family, the scrimmage is done and we want to thank you for your support," he told the crowd. Players did not talk to the media in the post-game news conference. 

Before the incident, the team was expected to make cuts on Saturday, but they will not make any decisions until a later date. 

"Everything's on hold, and it should be. It would be so inappropriate for us to talk about anything else," Krzyzewski said. 

ESPN's Brian Windhorst suggested that the stanchion appeared to be too close to the court, and that might have played a part in the injury. Shaq agreed.

It was an unfortunate reminder of another gruesome basketball-related leg injury in 2013, when Louisville guard Kevin Ware broke his right leg in an Elite Eight game.

As the news unfolded throughout the night, many players took to Twitter to show their support for George: