"France is going to have one very good team at FIBA's EuroBasket, where the 2012 London Olympic qualifying takes place.

And it's all due to their ability to purchase insurance.

Due to the NBA lockout guys with NBA contracts no longer have insurance when they play international competitions. If countries don't get the insurance, key guys don't play. In the case of Spain (with about six guys) the cost was rumored to be more than $6 million due to having to insure existing NBA deals (and the Gasol brother are not cheap). The French insurance was not inexpensive but was a little less than that.

The French have a number of players in the NBA — Tony Parker, the point guard of the Spurs, plus Ronny Turiaf, Nicolas Batum and maybe Joakim Noah (depends on a medial report). Mickael Pietrus is out due to failing to pass the physical."