Ginobili's comments may have prompted memo NEW YORK (AP) - The NBA reminded teams this week they are not allowed to discourage their players from competing in international competitions, shortly after Manu Ginobili said the Spurs did just that.
A memo dated on May 2 was sent to all NBA clubs. According to a person familiar with the document, it read: "This is a reminder that, under the NBA's agreement with FIBA, NBA teams are required to permit their players to play in certain major national-team competitions, provided that adequate insurance is obtained.
"These include the Olympics, world championships, continental championships (such as the European Championships), and relevant qualifying tournaments."
That person requested anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the memo.
Ginobili recently announced that he wouldn't play for Argentina, the defending Olympic champion, in this summer's Americas Olympic qualifier in Las Vegas. He wrote on his Web site that San Antonio requested he skip the event, saying that coach Gregg Popovich gave "rather understandable arguments."
"We told him we didn't want him to go," Popovich said on Friday after Spurs practice. "Why would we want him to go?"
Popovich, who also coaches Ginobili's Argentina teammate, Fabricio Oberto, is aware of the policy and knows ultimately it's the player's call if he wants to participate.
"We don't have any power (that's) keeping him from going. In the end it's (the player's) decision," Popovich said. "Our advice was not to go. We've got a huge investment in him.
"In Manu's case he's already won everything in the world. I think he's done his part way, way more than most others. We let him know that's how we felt."
Argentina's Walter Herrmann also was sitting out the FIBA Americas tournament, and said last month that was the preference of the Charlotte Bobcats because he was injured in September coming out of the world championship.
"The club blamed the national team and advised me not to join them and to rest for a period," he told the Spanish-language newspaper Mi Gente.
NBA teams are prohibited from banning players' participation, and the league doesn't even want teams discouraging it.
"The NBA/FIBA agreement also provides that NBA teams may not take any steps that are intended to deter players from playing in such competitions," the memo said.
