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Andre Roberson’s return to the NBA court 909 days after his gruesome knee injury must be celebrated as one of the most incredible stories in the league bubble.
The Oklahoma City Thunder’s defensive specialist ruptured his left patellar tendon after slipping when going for a lob in a game against the Detroit Pistons back in January 2018.
His defensive-minded game complemented the games of then-Thunder stars Russell Westbrook and Paul George perfectly.
At his peak, he was capable of limiting the opposition’s best scorer, doing great defensive work on top scorers like Kawhi Leonard and James Harden.
His knee injury effectively derailed Oklahoma City’s 2018 season, weakening the Thunder’s defense culminating in Donovan Mitchell’s 36-point series-clinching performance.
The nature of Roberson’s injury – a complete rupture of the patellar tendon that makes walking impossible – and the setbacks he endured during his rehabilitation process, make his comeback a sight to behold.
The OKC swingman had to undergo surgery thrice, setting him back for another two months before sustaining another knee fracture.
It was such a shame because prior to the fracture, there was practice footage of him dunking explosively.
On April 2019, he officially missed an entire season after being ruled out by coach Billy Donovan, who said Roberson was “not even doing anything in practice.”
The 2019-2020 season proved to be more of the same for Roberson. While there were some rumblings of optimism coming out of the Thunder camp during preseason, Roberson was ruled out for their season opener against the Utah Jazz in October 2019.
The following month, Donovan gave a less-than-promising answer as to where Roberson was in his recovery process.
“[Roberson has] been out for going on almost two years now, you want to go out there and make sure you’re ready to play and you’re ready to provide quality minutes and you’re in a good place mentally and physically to be able to do that,” Donovan said.
“But I think for him, he’s really not quite all the way there from a comfort standpoint. I think that’s what he’s really trying to work towards.”
Months continued to pass where there were no concrete updates to when Roberson would return, sowing doubts as to whether he’ll ever step foot on an NBA court again.
But in April 2020, Roberson showed optimism and said he was ready to make his return.
“I’m kinda past the rehab stage,” Roberson said in an episode of the Catching Up With My Family podcast. “I’m almost to the point where I should be playing, honestly.”
“It’s definitely been a long journey and it’s coming to an end,” he added.
It has come to an end, indeed. Roberson made his return to an NBA court on July 25 2020, checking in the 3rd quarter in a scrimmage against the Boston Celtics. He ended his first competitive game in two and a half years with 5 points in 12 minutes of action.
“There’s a lot of emotions. Anxious, you know, happy, just overly ecstatic just to get back out there on the floor,” Roberson said after his long-awaited return.
“Hearing coach call my name to get in the game, so, the nerves just started rattling…. But, you know, it just felt great to be back out there and definitely with the full support of my team and it was just a blessing,” the Thunder forward added.
“I couldn’t be any happier,” added Donovan. “Forget about the way he played, even though he played great. I was just happy that he can be out there, playing.”
Roberson also made waves when, despite not being known for his outside marksmanship, he made two three-pointers against the Philadelphia 76ers in the following scrimmage, including one that proved to be the game winner.
While he has been held scoreless in limited minutes during the first two seeding games against the Jazz and the Denver Nuggets, the mere fact that he has made it back is a testament to the work he and the Thunder staff have put in to ensure his career isn’t over just yet.
“I just wanna thank everybody – Oklahoma City and the fans all around the world – for sticking with me and supporting me through this whole journey,” Roberson said. – Jedd Pagaduan/Rappler.com
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