Image via Complex Original
16.
Not every NBA career goes exactly as planned. Everybody enters the league planning to be a Hall of Famer, but obviously that isn’t going to happen; the best outcome a player can hope for is a long, healthy career, but that too is a rare feat. Indeed, it’s often injuries that irreparably damage serious talent or bring a career to an end entirely.
That has been the fear with 2011 NBA MVP Derrick Rose, who this summer has looked fantastic as he looks to return to full strength following two major knee injuries that have limited him to just 10 games over the last two seasons. His USA Basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski has said that Rose looks “exceptional in every way” and “elite,” a good sign that the Bulls will soon reap the rewards of having one of their stars back on the floor full time.
The precedent is there for Rose to continue to perform at a top level even though he’s had some setbacks early in his career. History indicates that, especially if it happens when the player is young, a major injury does not spell doom for an NBA career. It’s entirely possible to return to an All-Star level, or in some cases G.O.A.T. level. As Rose continues to improve and look like the D-Rose of old, here are The Biggest NBA Career Comebacks.
Follow me on Twitter @dcsibor
15.Jamal Crawford
Injury type: Torn ACL
Injury year: 2001
Pre-injury stats: 84 G, 5.9 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 2.3 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Post-injury stats: 873 G, 16.6 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 3.9 APG, 1.0 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Despite tearing his ACL in 2001 and missing the bulk of the 2002 season, Jamal Crawford continued to improve every year even after leaving the Bulls and has molded himself into one of the deadliest bench scorers in the NBA. While he has never been an All-Star, Crawford has twice won the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award (in 2010 and 2014), averaging between 14 and 21 points per game every single year since 2004.
14.Michael Jordan
Injury type: Broken foot
Injury year: 1985
Pre-injury stats: 85 G, 28.1 PPG, 6.5 RPG, 5.8 APG, 2.4 SPG, 0.8 BPG
Post-injury stats: 987 G, 30.3 PPG, 6.2 RPG, 5.2 APG, 2.3 SPG, 0.8 BPG
Even His Airness Michael Jordan had a serious injury scare, breaking his foot early in his second season in the league. Returning for the final 15 games of the regular season, MJ responded in the most Jordan way possible when they were matched up with an historically-great Celtics team in the playoffs: he scored 49, then 63 points in the first two games of the series. He returned to form the following season, never again having another major injury problem and going on to have what some might call a pretty solid career.
13.Chris Paul
Injury type: Torn meniscus
Injury year: 2010
Pre-injury stats: 345 G, 19.3 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 10.0 APG, 2.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG
Post-injury stats: 272 G, 17.8 PPG, 3.9 RPG, 9.8 APG, 2.4 SPG, 0.1 BPG
Given the load he had to carry in New Orleans, Chris Paul’s torn meniscus in February of 2010 was a very serious problem for all parties involved. He played just 45 games that season, and the normally explosive guard looked a step slow on both ends of the floor. However, since joining the Clippers for the 2011-12 season he has returned to being the Paul of old, averaging nearly 20 points and double-digit assists per game. He’s even ditched the huge knee brace he was wearing, visual confirmation that he isn’t slowing down any time soon.
12.Baron Davis
Injury type: Torn ACL
Injury year: 1998
Pre-injury stats: NCAA: 32 G, 11.7 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 5.0 APG
Post-injury stats: NBA: 835 G, 16.1 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 7.2 APG, 1.8 SPG, 0.4 BPG
In a twisted way, Baron Davis’ career had a very clean arch to it as it both began and ended with serious knee injuries. During his freshman season at UCLA, he landed awkwardly coming down from a dunk during the NCAA tournament and tore his ACL, a serious concern for both Davis and the Bruins given Davis’ dependence on his speed and quickness. He managed to come back better than ever the following year, though, and declared for the NBA Draft following his sophomore season. He went on to enjoy a very good NBA career, one that was only slowed by nagging injuries to other parts of his body.
11.Al Jefferson
Injury type: Torn ACL
Injury year: 2009
Pre-injury stats: 331 G, 14.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.6 SPG, 1.2 BPG
Post-injury stats: 370 G, 18.9 PPG, 9.7 RPG, 2.0 APG, 0.8 SPG, 1.4 BPG
Al Jefferson has had a frustrating career in that whenever he starts to get some momentum going, injuries have slowed him down. The centerpiece of the trade that sent Kevin Garnett to the Celtics, Jefferson blossomed in Minnesota and was looking like an All-Star when he tore his ACL 50 games into the 2008-09 season. His recovery went smoothly, and in the five years since he has shown year-over-year improvement to the point that last year he was named to the All-NBA Third Team, the first individual honor of his career.
10.Antonio McDyess
Injury type: Patellar tendon rupture, fractured left knee cap
Injury year: 2001, 2002
Pre-injury stats: 442 G, 17.6 PPG, 8.7 RPG, 1.6 APG, 0.9 SPG, 1.7 BPG
Post-injury stats: 573 G, 7.8 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 1.1 APG, 0.6 SPG, 0.6 BPG
Even one of Antonio McDyess’ major injuries would have been enough to knock most players out for their entire career. During his first six seasons in the league, his incredible athleticism made him a rising star and earned him an All-Star nod in 2000-01. However, he ruptured his patellar tendon early in the 2001 season and spent much of the next two years trying to get back on the floor, and after playing just 18 games for the Knicks was shipped two Phoenix in 2004. He signed with Detroit to start the 2004-05 season, and reinvented himself as a high-effort post player who was a key cog in the highly-successful Pistons and Spurs machines for the next seven years.
9.Channing Frye
Injury type: Enlarged heart
Injury year: 2012
Pre-injury stats: 500 G, 9.7 PPG, 5.2 RPG, 1.0 APG, 0.5 SPG, 0.7 BPG
Post-injury stats: 82 G, 11.1 PPG, 5.1 RPG, 1.2 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.8 BPG
A productive role player throughout his career with New York, Portland, and Phoenix, Channing Frye was floored to discover just prior to the 2012-13 season that a virus had left him with a heart condition that might end his career. He made a full recovery, however, and returned to Phoenix last season and was able to pick up right where he left off. Playing almost 30 minutes a night for the upstart Suns, he posted strong shooting numbers across the board and earned himself a four-year, $32 million deal with the Magic this summer.
8.Kyle Lowry
Injury type: Torn ACL
Injury year: 2004
Pre-injury stats: NCAA: 24 G, 7.5 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 2.0 APG
Post-injury stats: NBA: 506 G, 11.7 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 5.4 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Kyle Lowry tore his ACL before he ever set foot on the floor for the Villanova Wildcats, and given that his game was predicated entirely on the point guard’s ability to use his speed and quickness to beat defenders, it seemed like a very serious potential roadblock had been thrown up in his way. That didn’t matter to Lowry, who went on to win numerous accolades in his two college seasons before putting up increasingly good numbers as a pro. His efforts were rewarded this summer with a four-year, $48 million extension with the Toronto Raptors, whom last season he led to the most regular season wins in franchise history and the team’s first playoff berth in six years.
7.Willis Reed
Injury type: Torn thigh muscle
Injury year: 1970
Pre-injury stats: 562 G, 20.0 PPG, 13.7 RPG, 1.8 APG
Post-injury stats: 88 G, 11.0 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.8 APG, 0.6 SPG, 1.1 BPG
Willis Reed’s career was undoubtedly shortened by injuries, but it is his most famous one that lands the Knicks on this list. A torn thigh muscle suffered during Game 5 of the 1970 NBA Finals was not going to keep Reed from playing in Game 7, even as painkiller shots did little to dull the clearly debilitating effect the injury was having on the league’s reigning MVP. Reed’s two first quarter hoops helped lift the Knicks to a title, and Reed returned to form the following season with another All-Star campaign and an All-NBA Second Team selection.
6.Adrian Dantley
Injury type: Torn wrist ligaments
Injury year: 1983
Pre-injury stats: 467 G, 25.2 PPG, 6.9 RPG, 3.2 APG, 1.3 SPG, 0.2 BPG
Post-injury stats: 488 G, 23.3 PPG, 4.6 RPG, 2.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG
For such a prolific scorer, Adrian Dantley bounced around the NBA quite a bit during his early NBA career. He played for four teams during his first four years in the league, finally finding a home in Utah and rewarding the Jazz with three consecutive All-Star appearances from 1980 through 1982. However, torn wrist ligaments suffered in December of 1982 put his prolific shooting stroke in jeopardy, and many wondered if Dantley would be the same player when he returned. He answered that emphatically the following season, winning the NBA scoring title and going on to make another three All-Star teams for Utah before bouncing around the league to finish his career.
5.Grant Hill
Injury type: Broken ankle
Injury year: 2000
Pre-injury stats: 435 G, 21.6 PPG, 7.9 RPG, 6.3 APG, 1.6 SPG, 0.6 BPG
Post-injury stats: 591 G, 13.1 PPG, 4.7 RPG, 2.6 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Grant Hill was supposed to be the heir-apparent to Michael Jordan, the next great explosive wing player who could dominate the entire NBA. And as a Detroit Piston, Hill did just that. While he was never quite on the same level as Jordan, he made five All-Star teams in six years and established himself as a legitimate star. Something changed when he signed a seven-year, $93 million contract with the Magic, though, and Hill played a combined 57 games in his first four years in Orlando as he battled persistent ankle problems that first developed in his final year with Detroit. A fully-recovered Hill enjoyed a return to All-Star form in his fifth Orlando season, though, and after that enjoyed a productive run as a role player in Phoenix.
4.Amar'e Stoudemire
Injury type: Knee cartilage damage
Injury year: 2005
Pre-injury stats: 217 G, 19.9 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.9 SPG, 1.4 BPG
Post-injury stats: 518 G, 20.6 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 1.3 APG, 0.7 SPG, 1.3 BPG
Before he became a punchline and cautionary tale against max deals for players with a bad injury history, Amar’e Stoudemire was one of the great comeback injury stories in recent NBA history. When he underwent microfracture surgery on his left knee in October of 2005, little was known about the recovery process. History has shown that this type of surgery can rob a player of his athleticism, but Stoudemire bucked the usual trend and instead averaged 20.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game in 2006-07, making the All-Star team. This touched off five straight years of 20-plus PPG from the power forward, who also overcame a detached retina that threatened to end his 2009 season.
3.Shaun Livingston
Injury type: Torn ACL, torn PCL, torn meniscus, sprained MCL, dislocated patella
Injury year: 2007
Pre-injury stats: 145 G, 7.4 PPG, 3.1 RPG, 4.8 APG, 0.9 SPG, 0.5 BPG
Post-injury stats: 321 G, 6.7 PPG, 2.4 RPG, 2.8 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.4 BPG
Perhaps the most gruesome injury NBA suffered in the modern era belongs to Shaun Livingston, whose knee basically exploded on national TV. The Clippers' point guard was on the rise at the time, an explosive young athlete who at age 21 was just beginning to find his legs in the NBA when everything suddenly changed. After significant rehab, he returned to the court about 20 months after the initial injury, struggling at first to find a place in the league. He has refined his game over the last several years, however, and his completely reinvented himself as a mature and crafty combo guard. As a result, he was rewarded this past summer with a three-year, $16 million contract from the Golden State Warriors.
2.Bernard King
Injury type: Torn right ACL
Injury year: 1985
Pre-injury stats: 540 G, 23.7 PPG, 6.6 RPG, 3.1 APG, 1.2 SPG, 0.3 BPG
Post-injury stats: 334 G, 20.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, 3.6 APG, 0.7 SPG, 0.1 BPG
While playing for the Knicks in the mid-1980s, Bernard King began to emerge as one of the most explosive athletes the league had ever seen. He scored in bunches, thanks in part to his ability to get out on the break and finish at the rim better than arguably anybody else in the league. He became the first player in 20 years to score 50-plus points in back-to-back games, and scored 60 points in a game on Christmas Day in 1984. However, just three months later, he tore his ACL while defending the Kings’ Reggie Theus. He did not play again for over two calendar years, returning for the final six games of the 1986-87 season. Although the Knicks cut him, a less-explosive King nevertheless went on to have a productive end to his career with the Washington Bullets, making the All-Star team in 1991.
1.Elgin Baylor
Injury type: Detached kneecap
Injury year: 1965
Pre-injury stats: 493 G, 30.2 PPG, 15.4 RPG, 4.3 APG
Post-injury stats: 353 G, 22.4 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 4.1 APG
Perhaps the greatest player in NBA history never to win a ring, Elgin Baylor fought through persistent knee trouble throughout his career to become one of the most exceptional small forwards of all-time. His most major injury was a dislocated patella suffered during the 1965 season, which required surgery and limited him to 65 games the following year. While Baylor put up career-worst numbers in 1966 (and failed to make the All-Star team for the first time in his career), he came back strong the following year and returned to his standard levels of production.