Unfortunately, the curse of the Spurs hasn’t ended yet as another setback was just announced a few hours ago. The up and coming star of San Antonio tore his ACL while he was driving for a bucket against James Harden and the Houston Rockets. It was visible that he was hurting as he was having a hard time getting up.
Spurs are in trouble
This is a sad day, to say the least for the Western Conference powerhouse. In one season, they’ve lost core players for different reasons. Manu Ginobili, who is probably the greatest basketball player from Argentina and soon to be Hall of Famer just announced his retirement 1 month ago.
Tony Parker, the Spurs court general opted to play with the Charlotte Hornets. Lastly, Kawhi Leonard, who is regarded as the next franchise player of the team just quit on the team, demanded a trade which indeed happened. Now, The Klaw and Danny Green are wearing new jersey and just by watching their pre-season game, this duo and the Toronto Raptors are about to take over Eastern Conference.
Going back to Dejounte Murray, the 22-year-old product of Washington Huskies was projected as the new court generally following the departure of the great Tony Parker. Murray has all the skills to be the leader and under Coach Popovich, it is almost guaranteed that he will become a star in the future. Even Chris Paul, the Houston Rockets point guard commented Murray regards his style of play.
However, his career is now in jeopardy as his worst fears came true.
Devastating injury but not career ending
A torn ACL is an injury that should not be taken lightly. If a player refuses to follow the doctor's orders or the timeline for their recovery, it might derail their entire career. There are handful NBA players who suffered this injury and it totally changed their game.
The legendary New York Knicks player Bernard King was the very first superstar who was affected by this injury. It took him 2 years to recover and a total of 6 years to be back in shape. Derrick Rose, the former league MVP is probably the biggest name who endured torn ACL. He is still playing right now, but it is not the same explosive player as he was before.
The next step for Dejounte Murray and the Spurs is to consult several experts on how they will handle this situation, especially that he is still in his tender years. If there’s one thing that is guaranteed with Murray’s injury is, the adjustment that he needs to do with his playing style. He is extremely athletic and he is a sneaky leaper. Dejounte might need to ask former and current players who have dealt with this injury and how to get over the psychological effect of it.
