The Chicago Bulls forward has been sidelined with a stress fracture in his right leg and could be out for the rest of the summer.

 

But he has told Britain that he will defy advice from the NBA side, for whom he signed an $80 million (£55.8 million) deal last summer, and his own personal trainer to skip the EuroBasket in Poland to allow his injury proper time to heal.

 

David Thorpe, Deng's trainer, said: "I recommended to him that he take the whole summer off and not even train with me.

 

"But Luol told me that was not acceptable.

 

"There is no way he is not going to help GB in some capacity.

 

"He will maybe not play as many friendlies.

 

"He will maybe adjust his schedule after consulting with coach [Chris] Finch and coming up with a plan that makes sense for everybody."

 

Deng is expected to continue to run on a treadmill which suspends weight.

 

It is similar to the machine that world marathon record holder Paula Radcliffe used as she battled to recover from a stress fracture in the build-up to last year's Olympics in Beijing.

 

Deng has been the figure-head of Britain's attempts to qualify for the Olympics in 2012 for the first time since 1948.

 

He inspired them to qualify for the European Championships, the first time that Britain have reached that stage since 1981.

 

They have been drawn in Group C alongside world champions Spain, Slovenia and Serbia and will be based in Warsaw.

 

The tournament starts on September 7.