Spurs guard Tony Parker told a French television sports show that he plans to play for France’s team in this summer’s EuroBasket tournament in Lithuania.

Sporting News.com reported that a post on FIBA.com indicated Parker would be playing in the tournament. FIBA is the international governing body of basketball.

“I will be at EuroBasket this summer,” Parker said during an interview with a weekly sports television show in France. “I’m eager to get started. We have a really good team.”

Parker told the television show that he was piqued to play for the French team because Chicago center Joakim Noah also is planning to play.

The threat of an NBA lockout reaches beyond 30 teams.

National teams competing in important Olympic qualifying tournaments this summer could be affected, too.

The collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association expires July 1, and if a deal is not reached before then or shortly after, national teams are concerned they won't be able to obtain affordable insurance on players' NBA contracts.

NBA player contracts are insured in case of injury, guaranteeing a player will be paid if he is injured. In general, it's a 41-game deductible, giving teams some relief.

The insurance for NBA players in international events under normal circumstances — use last summer's world championships in Turkey with several NBA players as an example — works like this: The NBA's insurance company covers the player's contract, and the player knows he will be paid his NBA salary if he is injured. The national team pays an additional insurance premium to cover career-ending injuries in international play, but since career-ending injuries are rare, the cost is nominal.

The situation changes drastically in an NBA lockout. Players' contracts are suspended in a lockout thus there is technically no contract to insure during that period.

Louisville basketball coach Rick Pitino is backing out of an agreement to coach the Puerto Rico national team in preparation for the 2011 pre-Olympic qualifying tournament because of scheduling conflicts, the school announced Wednesday morning.

"Too many conflicts arose," Pitino said. "It is a great disappointment that we cannot take on the challenge to help them qualify for the Olympics."

One issue, according to Louisville officials, is that Pitino had hoped to take the Cardinals with him to Puerto Rico on a preseason "foreign" trip so that he could work with them while also working with the Puerto Rico national team, but the NCAA declined to OK that plan because Puerto Rico is a Commonwealth of the United States.

Kentucky Coach John Calipari confirmed Tuesday that he has been asked to coach the Dominican Republic's national team and that he is considering taking the additional role.

"Now that our season is over, I can give proper attention to other things, such as this," Calipari said in a statement on his Web site.

"They liked what we are doing in China, including coaching their coaches and being involved in promoting grassroots basketball. Not only would I help train coaches in the Dominican Republic and here in Lexington like we have with the Chinese coaches, but I would also coach their national team."

Calipari said the commitment to the national team would run mainly from the start of August through mid-September.

Jared Sullinger, who was a first-team All-American and finished third in voting for the Wooden Award, given to the national player of the year, has been invited by USA Basketball to try out for the under-19 team that will represent the United States in the world championship this summer.

Sullinger said he will decline the invite.

"Actually, I'm going into hiding this summer pretty much," Sullinger said. "It's something coach Matta brought to my attention, that it might be best for me. Just to get better on my own terms. Be able to stay here and get the conditioning and the weights that I need instead of just playing basketball. I need to do some of the lifts here, and I need to run.

"And I've also got five freshmen coming in and two of them are big men, so I have to be a leader."