Damian Martin cleared to play with Boomers after leg MRI
UPDATE: Roy Ward of The Age has tweeted that Martin is cleared to play, according to Basketball Australia.
https://twitter.com/rpjward/status/630985491324669952
Following Patty Mills' return to the Boomers, the team only has days to go before the game kicks off. According to Chris Robinson of PerthNow, Damian Martin of the Perth Wildcats suffered a lower leg injury and was looking to sit the series out.
According to Ward afterwards, an ultrasound was done on Martin, with an all clear being given. He is still set to play this weekend.
Martin, who also plays for the Perth Wildcats, was said to be "battling a calf or Achilles issue", but was present at this morning's Boomers session.
Martin lost an opportunity to represent the country once before. He was one of the final cuts from the 2012 squad that participated in the London Olympics, and Patty Mills' initial exclusion had allowed Martin a chance to join this year's Boomers.
“So getting cut from that squad, being one of the last two cut, really impacted me mentally. But I still had ambitions to continue playing for the Boomers and to be back in the team now is amazing.
“The last time I played with Bogut for an Australian team we won a world championship. I don’t want to put too much pressure on ourselves – that was under-20s – but it’d be nice to be in the team with guys I went with the institute with and grew up playing alongside.” - source
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9qYqIYSvyE
Keeping Martin at this stage means the Boomers have one more capable defender at the perimeter. Martin led the league with 81 steals in the NBL last season, and was named the NBL's Best Defensive Player for the fifth straight season recently.