Chris Paul leaves first U.S. practice with thumb injury

[ Source: ] - July 07, 2012

LAS VEGAS -- The U.S. men's basketball team held its first practice Friday, and there was a quick reminder of the rocky run-up to the London Games.

Chris Paul was forced to leave the opening day of training camp to get an X-ray after hurting his thumb. The Americans don't believe the injury is serious, with USA Basketball chairman Jerry Colangelo calling it a tweak of a previous injury, and they hope Paul can practice Saturday.

That would be some rare good news for a team has been severely weakened by injuries. Dwight Howard, Derrick Rose, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh all were forced to pull out, leaving the Americans with 15 players vying for 12 spots. The roster will be announced Saturday night.

Colangelo said he would discuss the roster with the coaching staff on Friday night but would put off any judgments until after Saturday's practice.

"Tonight we'll have some deliberations about what took place today, but we're still not making the final decision until we practice tomorrow," he said. "We told the players we were going to do that and we're not going to change."

Source: http://espn.go.com/olympics/summer/2012/basketball/story/_/id/8136899/chris-paul-leaves-first-us-practice-thumb-injury

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