The New York company used by the NBA to cover all its players when they represent their national teams has refused to insure the new multi-million dollar contract that 23-year-old Deng signed with the the Bulls last month because of a minor back injury he suffered last Novermber.

 

Chris Spice, British Basketball's performance director said: "The issue for us is to seek alternative insurance, which is what we're doing right now.

 

"We're very hopeful that will happen - all of our people and all of Luol's people are working for the same outcome."

 

Spice declined the opportunity to criticise the Bulls over the row.

 

He said: "They've been very supportive of Luol playing for GB.

 

"It's purely an insurance issue and the Bulls are looking after their own interests, which they're entitled to do.

 

"We're confident that he will be able to play - it's just a matter of time as we try to work through the paperwork."

 

Nevertheless, the cost of insurance is also a worrying factor for Britain's management.

 

Last season, they insured Deng for around £35,000 for their summer programme, but with the player having signed a much larger contract - £6 million annually over six years - that premium could be almost prohibitive.

 

Spice said: "We don't know yet - we've got a couple of companies looking at it and obviously we've got to get medical records to them.

 

"The key thing for us is to get him reassessed so that we've got an accurate picture and so do the insurance companies.

 

"One of our hopeful points is that the information they're reacting off is when he was injured.

 

"We're going to show them a picture of what he looks like now."

 

Deng was already ruled out of Britain's two games at their training camp in Belgium later this month because he needs to fly to Chicago for business reasons.

 

But Spice wants to see Deng back in camp in time for the Efes Pilsen tournament in Konya, Turkey, from August 28-30, their last warm-up before the qualifiers, which start with a game in Tel Aviv, Israel on September 3.

 

Spcie said: "He wasn't going to be in Belgium with us and he's not going to play here in Italy so the time we're aiming for is to get him ready for the Turkey tournament to give him some preparation time before the Eurobasket games."