Getty Brooklyn Nets star Caris LeVert will not require surgery after his gruesome injury. He is expected to return this season.
Caris LeVert and the Brooklyn Nets got great news about the gruesome injury he suffered on Monday night.
According to the Hospital for Special Surgery’s Dr. Martin O’Malley, who serves as the team’s orthopedist, Brooklyn’s breakout star won’t need surgery. The playmaking wing is expected to return to action this season.
“Fortunately, tests performed this morning revealed that there are no fractures and only moderate ligament damage,” Dr. O’Malley said, per NBA.com. “While the optics of this injury may have appeared to be more severe, surgery will not be required. Caris will begin a period of rehabilitation with the Nets’ performance staff, following which he is expected to return to full strength and resume all basketball activities without any limitations this season.”
A horrifying hush fell over the Target Center crown on Monday night when LeVert went down with seconds remaining in the first half of his team’s tilt with the Minnesota Timberwolves, his ankle graphically bent in a direction it’s not supposed to bend.
Fans and players on both teams were visibly distraught as LeVert left the court on a stretcher.
“Guys were crying coming into the locker room,” said Nets wing Joe Harris, according to Nets Daily. “It was really that horrific just to see the circumstances of everything and just the type of person that Caris is and what he’s been for our team. You’re heartbroken and you’re just overwhelmed with emotion to be honest.”
Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson called LeVert “the heart and soul of our program.”
“I just know Caris,” Atkinson added, “if anybody is coming back from this, knowing the human, the character, the person, the player, he’ll come back from this.”