Earlier this week, we reported on Minnesota's Brandon Roy going under the knife for the seventh time in his NBA career to repair a right knee injury. And though the procedure was successful, the original report went on to infer this might be the final hoorah for Roy in the NBA.
Well it seems medial professionals are now on the record stating Roy should seriously consider retirement from the NBA after this latest setback.
Not just one doctor, but multiple doctors have told Roy that he should stop playing basketball. His knees are getting worse by the day. By now, at 28, he has had so many surgeries, so many treatments and seen so many doctors, he sounds like a specialist. He explains that he has degenerative arthritis, which erodes and eventually eliminates cartilage, with the same precision and ease that came to define his run of three consecutive All-Star appearances. And with the calm that made him one of the game’s best finishers, he explains that his knees have reached Level III arthritis. There are only four stages.
Take a wild guess what level four is… knee replacement. Yeah it's that serious.
After coming back from his first retirement from the Blazers, Roy proved to be a good player for Minnesota averaging 5.8 points, 2.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists in five games for Minnesota before succumbing to this injury. A far cry from the stud he was in Portland but a great comeback story. Everyone was pulling for him but it seems this chronic knee issues may derail any Hollywood ending for Roy.
In the end it simply comes down to this, does he risk another comeback and possibly put his health in peril or know he tried his best to come back and making sure he is healthy to lead a normal life?
It's not anything a pro-athlete wants to hear but in Roy's case it is the hard truth.
