Insured: Parker can play for Les Bleus

The French Basketball Federation has obtained sufficient insurance for its NBA players, clearing the way for Spurs guard Tony Parker and others to play in the Eurobasket tournament in Lithuania later this summer.

During the ongoing NBA lockout, the league has been either unable or unwilling to offer its standard share of insurance for international players to play in FIBA events.

As a result, the full burden of securing pricey insurance for players’ NBA contracts has fallen to the often cash-strapped foreign federations. Earlier this offseason, the 29-year-old Parker said he would not play for France unless his contract could be insured.

, France has accomplished that mission, lining up insurance for the roughly $130 million in NBA contracts on its roster.

Expected to join Parker for the start of Les Bleus camp today are fellow NBAers Boris Diaw, Nicolas Batum, Ronny Turiaf and Kevin Seraphin.

Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah is also free to join the team, but could be held out due to an ankle injury. Phoenix’s Mikael Pietrus will skip the tournament while recovering from knee surgery.

News of the French federation’s success in solving the insurance issue came after a , though it is uncertain if it came as a direct results of those talks.