Getty Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic
The entire sports world poured out thoughts and showed their concern for Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic on Monday night. During the Blazers’ double-overtime game against the Brooklyn Nets, Nurkic went down awkwardly on his leg late and suffered a gruesome injury.
Nurkic’s leg was immediately covered and he was stretched off, then taken to the hospital. It left fans, players and everyone watching in disbelief and with obvious concern for the 24-year-old center. The following day, The Athletic’s Shams Charania revealed Nurkic underwent surgery on compound fractures and pointed out some positive news in the fact that he suffered no nerve or muscle damage.
Portland’s Jusuf Nurkic underwent season-ending surgery today on compound fractures, and some positive news: No nerve or muscle damage in his leg, league sources said. He is out indefinitely.
While fellow NBA players and fans tweeted messages to the Blazers center, the support went far beyond that. So much so, that a great scene was captured on a soccer pitch in an entirely different country.
Bosnia vs. Greece Soccer Game Provides Jusuf Nurkic Chants
In one of the best gestures of support for the Bosnian center, fans chanted Nurkic’s name during a Bosnia and Herzegovina vs. Greece UEFA EURO Qualifier match on Tuesday.
It was quite the scene and a way for the fans to show some love to the player who’s built an impressive career at the NBA level. After being the No. 16 pick in the 2014 NBA Draft, his career began with the Denver Nuggets and he averaged between 6.9-8.2 points per game over the first two and a half seasons.
Jusuf Nurkic Thrives After Trade to Trail Blazers
Through 45 games of the 2016-17 season in Denver, Nurkic had averaged 8.0 points, 5.8 rebounds and 0.8 blocks over 17.9 minutes per game. During the final 20 games of that season, which he played with Portland, the 7-foot center’s numbers jumped to 15.2 points, 10.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks over 29.2 minutes per game.
Nurkic had taken major strides forward throughout the 2018-19 season. His averages were similar (15.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 1.4 blocks), but he had improved as an all-around player and was shooting a career-best 77.3 percent from the free throw line. Through the month of March, Nurkic thrived by averaging 16.8 points and 11.8 rebounds while helping the Blazers win four straight and seven of eight before the injury.
It’s brutal for Nurkic and you have to feel bad for the talented big man who was having a great season alongside Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum. Beyond that, when McCollum went down with a knee injury just recently, Nurkic stepped up in a big way next to Lillard and helped keep the Blazers’ foot on the gas ahead of the playoffs.
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