Complete rupture of the left Achilles tendon. The medical report offered this Monday by Real Madrid could not be more heartbreaking for Usman Garuba and for the white team. The Spanish center will be out for about a year after undergoing surgery in the coming days and a very long recovery process. The injury interrupts the best form of the interior two seasons after his return from the NBA, just when at 24 years old he had regained the competitive mentality and energetic play that made him a key piece in Madrid’s rotation and a man of present and future in the Spanish national team. Now he faces the most difficult moment of his career.
Garuba was injured with nine minutes left in the last quarter of the Euroleague semifinal against Valencia last Friday. The center fell suddenly after a turn, without anyone touching him, and the severity of the injury was immediately apparent. He could not put weight on his foot although he first tried on the court and then on the bench and left helped by the club’s physiotherapists and doctors unable to walk. This Sunday he left the hotel in a wheelchair and with a Walker boot on the way to the pavilion to watch the final against Olympiacos. His teammates wore shirts with the slogan “Cheer up Usman.”
Madrid is now considering going back to the market to face the ACB playoff rounds after already signing the Turkish center Ömer Yurtseven for the coming months. In just 24 days the white team lost Tavares (knee), Len (plantar fascia), and Garuba (Achilles tendon) to injury and played against Olympiacos with Lyles in the five position as an emergency solution.
