The Portland Trail Blazers lost their star center Jusuf Nurkic for the rest of the season on Monday night, when the Bosnia native landed awkwardly after jumping for a loose ball and severely injuring his left leg.
Video of the injury shows the lower half of the 24-year-old NBA star’s left leg completely snapping in two as he lands after jumping during the second overtime period of the Blazers’ home game against the Brooklyn Nets.
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It’s truly one of the more horrific and gruesome leg injuries the NBA has had in a while… and please be aware that the video is extremely graphic and disturbing… but CLICK HERE if you must watch. So scary!!!
And the ref — why does the ref walk over him and kick his injured foot after he’s already down?! It appears to be accidental… but why even get close to the poor guy as he’s laying there writhing in pain???
**takes a deep breath**
The team released a statement about the injury last night, which read in part (below):
“Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic sustained compound fractures to his left tibia and fibula with 2:22 remaining in the second overtime of Portland’s win over Brooklyn on Monday. There is no timetable for his return to basketball activity. His status will be updated as appropriate.”
Blazers coach Terry Stotts also confirmed after the game that Nurkic was at a local hospital being treated. One would presume that includes a significant round of surgeries, as the timetable to return from an injury like this can be very, very long, but there’s no other word about the center’s current state.
As he was being carted off the court on a stretcher, Blazers fans gave their star center a standing ovation — and the emotion in the arena from teammates, opponents, fans, and everyone else was heavy (below):
Wow…
Not that it matters as much, but the Blazers ended up winning last night’s game after Nurkic was injured.
From a basketball perspective, the star’s injury is a significant loss for the team, who had been relying on him as an everyday starter and primary rebounder down low with just nine games left to go in the regular season. Firmly in fourth place in the NBA’s Western Conference, Portland is duking it out for home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs — and Nurkic’s loss may really hurt them. The 24-year-old Bosnian was averaging career highs in points, rebounds, assists, steals, and double-doubles, and was on his way to career-best averages in shooting from both the field and the free throw line, too.
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From a career perspective, as you might suspect, an injury like this can be devastating. Other basketball players have come back from it, and Nurkic may well return eventually, too, but the road to recovery is extremely long, and he may never again be the same player. Add to the fact that he’s not the height of a normal human — the Bosnian is 6’11”, and weighs 280 pounds — and so the pressure he puts on his bones and joints is different than what you’d see in a human of more average height, further complicating recovery.
Ugh. We certainly aren’t big-time sports fans around here, but it’s impossible to see something like this and not feel emotionally devastated for the poor player involved.
Our thoughts are with Jusuf on a full, healthy recovery. It’s going to take a while, but we sincerely hope he gets back to doing what he loves and he’s able to play basketball in the NBA again one day!
[Image via Bleacher Report/YouTube]
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