In NBA history, we have seen many players’ career tracks change instantly due to damn injuries. We have witnessed countless potential superstars falling down due to serious injuries, Grant-Hill, Brandon-Roy, “Penny” Hardaway, Bill Walton…… Injuries and other factors make them unable to realize their maximum potential and leave a permanent mark in NBA history.
However, some people have successfully returned strongly. With the passage of time and the progress of medicine and science, injuries that once took away career may only make players absent for one or two seasons, the days when he was sentenced to death in his career by tearing the ligament of the cross are gradually gone forever. Let’s see which players can still return and influence NBA after falling down due to injuries.
(The following rankings are in no particular order)
Michael Jordan
One of the most forgotten parts of Jordan’s career was the fracture bones in the foot he encountered in 1985. In the 1985-86 season, Jordan, the second grade, was absent from 64 games due to his fracture bones in the foot dunk landing in the third game of the season. Jordan, who returned at the end of the season, not only proved that he could still fly, but also scored 43.7 points in the first round of the playoffs when facing the powerful Celtics, including 63 points in the playoff game. Although the bull was swept out by the Celtics, Jordan still wrote a legend in the next few seasons, with ten scoring Kings, five MVPs, six championships and six FMVP……
Jamal-Crawford
Clifford is recognized as one of the best sixth men in NBA history, but people always forget that this smart and natural player suffered a tear of the anterior cross ligament early in his career, therefore, the second grade of Clifford was absent from 59 games of the current season. After receiving the repair surgery, Clifford returned to the rotation of the Bulls, and after two years of injury, he could get 17.3 points and 5.1 assists as the team’s starting game. In the 2007-08 season, as the starting point guard of the Knicks, Clifford could score 20.6 points per game. In the 2009-10 season, Clifford began to play the sixth role in the team. When the season was replaced 79 times, he averaged 18 points and got the first “best sixth” in his career “, and won this honor twice later.
Kevin Durant
In the 2019 finals, warriors are pursuing the road of creating a dynasty three successive championships. Durant, who left the second round of the playoffs due to injury, returned in the final G5, but reimbursed for the season after 11 minutes of play. After 552 days of recovery, Durant returned in the 2020-21 season. In the second round of the playoffs, Durant lost seven games against the Bucks in basketable nets, durant averaged 34.3 points 9.3 rebounds 4.4 assists 1.5 steals 1.6 covers in the two-round series. Durant averaged 29.9 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.4 assists in the 2021-22 season, but basketable nets was swept by Celtics in the first round of the playoffs. Durant has proved that he has recovered some personal status after being seriously injured. Now he is working hard for his next championship.
Dominic Wilkins
Wilkins is an excellent scorer, and his stability is legendary. He has scored 25 + in ten consecutive seasons, including the season when he was injured. In the 1991-92 season, Wilkins broke his Achilles tendon in the match against 76 players in January and was reimbursed for the season. Wilkins scored 28.1 points and 7.0 rebounds that season. Ten months later, Wilkins came back and played 71 games in the 1992-93 season, averaging 29.9 points and 6.8 rebounds, with a three-point shooting rate of 38% and being selected for the second round. In the following three seasons, Wilkins played 148 games with an average score of more than 25 points.
Kobe Bryant
At the end of the 2012-2013 season, 34-year-old Kobe suffered a rupture of his Achilles tendon in the game, and his injury stopped for nine months. In the 2013-14 season, Kobe only played 6 games and suffered a fracture of the left knee after returning, and was reimbursed for the season. In the 2014-15 season, Kobe scored 22.3 points 5.7 rebounds 5.6 assists in 35 games, but he suffered a rupture of the right shoulder tendon again, and the injury stopped for nine months. Since the rupture of the Achilles tendon, Kobe has only played 41 games in two years. Before that, he had just played a season of 78 games with an average of 38.6 minutes, 27.3 minutes, 5.6 rebounds and 6.0 assists. Kobe, who returned from the farewell season, was no longer an MVP player due to injuries and age, but he still scored 60 points in the last match to help the team win the match.
Elgin Baylor
Baylor’s career has been fighting against knee injuries and diseases. At the end of the 1964-65 season, Baylor’s patella fell off, and he scored 27.1 points and 12.8 rebounds that season. In the regular season of the new season, Baylor only played 65 games with a knee injury and only got 16.6 points and 9.6 rebounds. But soon he found himself in the playoffs. Baylor scored 26.8 points and 14.1 rebounds in 14 games and continued this state for four seasons, which was completely lost due to severe knee injuries.
Paul George
Because of the shocking injury in 2014, George played only 6 games in the 2014-15 season. However, the severe compound fracture of his right leg did not take away his career. George was still able to hand over 23+6+3 data in the last two seasons of Pacers. Not only did the recovery of injury not decline, but it performed better. In the second year of Thunder, George scored 28.0 points 8.2 rebounds 4.1 assists 2.2 steals, third in the MVP list, and was selected into the double one. George is still one of the best players in the league. He is pursuing the championship on the Clippers, which may be something nobody dared to think about in 2014.
Sean Livingston
No one wants to recall that at that moment, Livingston in go by like the wind broke the bottom line in a match against Tigercat in the 2006-07 season. None of his knees was intact. The anterior and posterior cross ligament was torn and the medial collateral ligament was sprained. The doctor did not even know whether he could walk normally or even was on the verge of amputation. However, after a long period of reconstruction, he returned to the stadium in the 2008-09 season. He lost everything that could make him a star player, and he was wandering in the league for two seasons. In the 2010-11 season, Livingston played 73 games as a substitute in Tigercat. This was the first time he played a relatively complete season in a team after his injury. Since then, he has changed four teams one after another. In the 2013-14 season, Livingston played 76 games in basketable nets, 54 of which started. People finally noticed the person who was changed by injuries and pulled himself back. After joining the Warriors in the 2014-15 season, Livingston played an extremely important role in the three championship trips.
Derek Rose
In the 2010-11 season, Rose was working hard on becoming one of the best point guards in NBA history. He scored 25.0 points 4.1 rebounds 7.7 assists in 81 games and became the youngest MVP in history. In the 2011-12 season, Rose played only 39 games due to injury, but this was not the most serious. In the first round of the playoffs, Rose’s left knee anterior cross ligament was torn, and the Bull suffered black eight. After missing a whole season, Rose tore the right knee ligament in the 10th regular season after returning and reimbursed again. In the 2014-15 season, Rose suffered a Menisci injury in his right knee. In the 2016-17 season, Rose suffered a Menisci injury in his left knee. In the 2017-18 season, Rose played only 25 games. During this period, Rose has been trying to get back to the state, but the accumulated injuries and repeated sprains of the ankle make rose almost no ball to play. In the 2018-19 season, Rose scored the highest 50 points in his career in a match to help the team win. In the 2019-20 season, Rose scored 18.1 points and 5.6 assists, and finally swore his return with the outstanding performance of two consecutive seasons.
Clay Thompson
In the 2019 finals G6, Clay’s anterior cross ligament was torn. In the 2019-20 season, Clay’s Achilles tendon broke. As one of the best three-point shooters in history, Clay experienced the most difficult period of his career, and the reimbursement of his career for two consecutive seasons was overshadowed. After a cautious and positive reconstruction, Clay finally returned after two and a half years away from the stadium. In the 32 regular season of the 2021-22 season, Clay scored 20.4 points and hit 38.5 percent in three points. In the 22 playoff games, Clay scored 19.0 points and hit% in three points, helping the team win the fourth championship in eight years. Warriors and clay used practical actions to turn all the possibilities from the outside world into reality.
Honorary nomination: Willys-Reed
Reed did not miss too many games due to injury before returning, but he contributed the most legendary comeback performance in NBA history. In the 1970 finals G5, Reed’s thigh muscle was torn, which made the finals and even his career confusing. However, after missing G6 due to injury, Reed forced his return in G7. he only scored 4 points for 27 minutes-those were two jump shots against Chamberlain’s defense, which inspired the Knicks team, and finally defeated the Lakers and won the first championship young pioneer team history. In the next season, Reed played 20.9 points and 13.7 rebounds in 73 games, which seemed to be not affected at all. It was not until 1971-72 that Reed suffered a tendon strain on his left knee that his condition declined.
Do Bar friends still remember which players who still played well after returning from serious injuries? Leave the story in your memory in the comment section!