Great Britain are keeping their fingers crossed that Chicago Bulls star Luol Deng will play for the country in  their forthcoming EuroBasket 2009 qualifiers.

The NBA's insurance company MetLife chose not to insure Deng earlier this summer, a decision related to the back injury that sidelined the Sudan-born forward for a few games at the start of last season.

It is understood that British Basketball have their own insurance policy for Deng, the leading scorer in EuroBasket Division B last year at 24.5 points per game.

But British Basketball performance director Chris Spice told Basketball World News in an email early Friday afternoon: "At this stage, we still have not received clearance from the NBA confirming Luol Deng's participation for GB this summer.

"We hope to make an announcement later today or first thing tomorrow on the issue and we are remaining positive."

Great Britain are currently in Turkey for the Efes Cup Tournament 7 .

Their first EuroBasket 2009 qualifying game is next Wednesday in Tel Aviv against Israel.

Britain will also take on Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Czech Republic in Group D.