George's Injury Similar To Ware's

Indiana Pacers all-star Paul George is expected to miss next season after fracturing his fibula and tibia during a scrimmage, Friday.

George injured his leg when attempting to block a shot.

Ralph Reiff is the executive director of St. Vincent Sports Performance and says the Pacers forward is looking at a six- to 12-month recovery.

"Someone of Paul George's age and physical fitness, those are the things that are on his side that would bring (the recovery) to the shorter end of it," said Reiff.  "Certainly, there will be things such as the emotional aspect of it of having a good attitude and a big heart and determination, but those things don't make much difference when it comes to a bone healing.  The bone will heal according to its own biology."

Reiff was part of the team that worked on former Louisville guard Kevin Ware who broke his leg two years ago at Lucas Oil Stadium during the NCAA tournament.

He says George’s injury is similar.

"The fracture direction went the opposite direction for both of them.  Kevin Ware's went more towards the outside or lateral side for his fracture whereas when Paul George's fractured his, the angle of deflection went inside," said Reiff.  "In all circumstances, I thought I would never see another one in 100 years on a basketball court like Kevin Ware's and here we are within 18 months we see another one."

Reiff says a similarity between George and Ware's injuries may be bone fatigue.

"Here's an athlete deep into the first day of August and he's been on his feet as a competitive basketball player since training camp last September," said Reiff.  "So, could fatigue be a factor in that in terms of bone fatigue?  We'll never know that immediately, but those are the kinds of things our industry will dig into to try to do a better job predicting."

George is a two time all star and was part of the NBA’s all defensive team last season.