Manu Ginobili was recently declared to be out for the rest of the regular NBA season as well as the playoffs with a right ankle injury. The San Antonio Spurs’ guard can partially fault the 30-plus missed games this season to last summer’s Olympic Games, and the Spurs are left to pay, by way of Ginobili’s guaranteed salary.

Ginobili, 31, originally injured his left ankle during the playoffs of the 2008 season with the Spurs. He had corrective surgery on the posterior impingement, or “pinching” of the soft tissue around his ankle, said physical therapist and orthopedic clinical specialist Stephania Bell.

Ginobili underwent a rushed recovery period in order to join his Argentinean teammates in the summer Olympics, where he reinjured the same ankle playing against the United States’ team. Ginobili ultimately needed additional surgery in September of last year and wasn’t back to his normal playing time until midway through December.

In February, it was revealed that Ginolili’s right ankle had developed a stress reaction caused in part by the injury on the opposite ankle. It was advised by the Spurs’ medical team that Ginobili rest the new injury to prevent it from developing into a stress fracture, which he did for five weeks. Six games after his return, a stress fracture was detected and the Spurs were forced to face the loss of their sixth man once again.

Following the trail of these injury progressions, it seems that a full recovery period after the initial posterior impingement could have prevented the continued strain on Ginobili’s ankles. However, the necessary time was not available because of the approaching Olympic Games. Although the Spurs advised Ginobili not to play in the games, he was not prevented under contract from doing so.

The lack of a contractual clause preventing NBA players from participating in the Olympics and other organized sports outside of the league seems irresponsible in terms of business. The league hires these players to play for the NBA. Teams pay millions of dollars to individual players each season, and should take greater care to prevent unnecessary injuries.

Think of it as a type of no-compete clause. Many employers today require their new hires to sign contracts preventing them from sharing any information learned on the job with other businesses. The NBA could use the same mindset with its players. While under contract for a team, players shouldn’t be allowed to do anything that might endanger their health or ability to fulfill the duties assigned to them.

They should not be allowed to play for another organized league, be it the Olympics or a community recreational league. The players have a responsibility to their team, just as employees have responsibilities to their companies.

It is understandable that such clauses have yet to be implemented. However, the NBA does reserve the right to make such changes and should consider the consequences for lack of action before resigning to leave things as they are.

The same should hold true in the NBA. The players are first and above all else, employees. They have jobs to do and are paid generous salaries for the burdensome responsibilities. Unlike common employers, the NBA guarantees salaries even if the player is incapable of fulfilling his duties.

For that reason, it is necessary for the league to place restrictions on the activities a player may perform while under contract, even in the offseason. If it is considered too extreme for the league to outlaw such activities, then it should be decided that the player forfeit all salary while out with an injury sustained outside of the league.

In the case of Ginobili, the salary guaranteed for the current season should be deducted in correlation to the number of games he missed due to re-injuring his ankle in the Olympics. However, since is cannot be proved that the most recent ankle injury occurred as a direct result of the Olympics, he should not be penalized for those games missed.

These players are employees and must be treated as so. If they are injured playing for the team they are under contract with, that should be considered an on-the-job injury and all contractual money should continue to be paid. But they should not be permitted to knowingly endanger their ability to play basketball for their NBA team by playing in other venues.

Dawn Johnson can be reached at [email protected]