Last Friday just like most basketball fans, I was excited to see some mid summer hoops with some of the young NBA stars in the game. More specifically I was excited to see how Derrick Rose would look coming off not one but two season ending injuries. He looked great to say the least throwing down a two handed back scratching dunk with authority showing the bounce was back maybe better than ever. What really showed me he was back was the way he exploded to the hoop for an uncontested lay-up midway through the 1st quarter. It’s easy to forget how fast that guy actually is. As great as it was to finally see him on the court instead of on the sideline cheering teammates on and picking at his “Kobe fro” something terrible was right around the corner.
At the beginning of the 4th quarter Paul George rushed back on defense attempting to catch James Harden’s lay-up off the glass. His foot got caught beneath the stanchion that was clearly closer than usual compared with NBA arena goals. It mirrored the way top pick Nerlens Noel was injured in college a couple years ago. The injury was so gruesome that ESPN (notorious for replaying everything) would not replay the leg snapping. The way players reacted you could tell it was serious though, with multiple shots of Kevin Durant and Derrick holding their heads in disbelief and Kyrie Irving bursting into tears. The scrimmage was rightfully cancelled by coach K due to the circumstances. Next came millions of fans sending out prayers and well wishes for Paul. A couple days removed several doctors are saying that while this upcoming season is a wash for Paul, he can make a full recovery from the injury.
In the aftermath of this injury will we see more players decline playing in the summer games for fear of being injured? After all they are literally worth millions and have the potential to change markets i.e.: Cleveland. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has long said that he is not a fan of his players playing for those teams in the summer because of the potential for injury. You can’t fault him for wanting to protect his multimillion dollar investments. Paul is about to begin a five year $90 million deal and now a career and franchise has been drastically altered. This could have happened at anytime in any arena, but the fact is it happened where it did and now decisions will undoubtedly be made.
