Caris LeVert’s gruesome injury could’ve been much worse

The Brooklyn Nets rising star, Caris LeVert dislocated his ankle yesterday, but doctors say the injury looked worse than it is.  

In yesterday’s game between the Brooklyn Nets and Minnesota Timberwolves, up-and-coming Nets player, Caris LeVert, jumped up to block Josh Okogie’s attempted layup. The two young athletes collided in the air and LeVert fell awkwardly. His right foot rolled in and dislocated from his ankle.

The crowd were roaring until people realised something was wrong. Everyone fell silent. LeVert was carried out on a stretcher. He and everyone in attendance knew his season was over.

That was what we thought, until the news came out today that LeVert’s injury is far less serious than it looked.

NetsDaily reported that the Nets’ team Orthopaedist diagnosed the injury as a subtalar dislocation of the right foot, with no fractures and only moderate ligament damage.

That means LeVert will not require surgery and will attempt to return in two to three months.

If you read the medical literature about this injury, a subtalar dislocation is a very rare type of dislocation, but even more rare is sustaining this injury without any associated fractures.

For a player who has been subject to a whole lot of bad-luck with injuries in college, LeVert was understandably thankful in an Instagram post today.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BqI2Lg6FkVQ/

Media publications were already writing about how devastating this could be for LeVert’s career. And Nets fans were despondent about their team’s future, knowing he is the most promising talent on the squad. The comparisons to last year’s season-ending injury to Gordon Hayward inevitably came up.

Hopefully this moment will motivate the young star into even greater play when he recovers, and that these injuries continue to be few and far between.