Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant suffered a similar foot injury to Aaron Gordon. He had some advice for the rookie’s recovery from his first injury.
Recovering from a broken foot can be a scary thing for an elite athlete. Just think of all your foot and leg have to do as the base for a jump, its landing pad and simple walking. If you have ever broken your foot or leg, you know how frustrating the recovery process can be.
And most of us are not elite athletes. Elite athletes like Kevin Durant and Aaron Gordon.
Aaron Gordon made his return to the court for the first time since mid-November on Sunday night, playing 11:48 and scoring eight points on 2-for-4 shooting. It was a positive step for the rookie forward. Any step on the floor would have been a positive step.
That is the first thing you apparently learn coming back from an injury. Especially your first injury. And trusting the rehabbed foot? That is the bigger step, as Thunder star Kevin Durant told Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel on Sunday.
"“I think everybody’s body is a little different. What I learned is you’ve got to really have patience. I don’t know if that was his first surgery or not. Your first one, you don’t know what to expect. Some days you feel like it’s not going to get better. Some days you feel like you’re making gains. It’s so up-and-down. It’s like a roller coaster emotionally and physically.So it’s just about staying level-headed and knowing that in a matter of time it’s going to start to eventually get better. There was days where it felt like my foot was going to hurt for the rest of my life. Some days were better than others. I think having guys around that had been through surgeries before helped me as well.”"
Durant had a similar fracture in his foot to Gordon earlier this season that caused him to miss the first 17 games and return at the beginning of December. In fact, Gordon and Durant both had surgery on their feet performed by the same doctor.
It has taken a while for Durant to get back to his superstar form. He had that on full display Sunday night with 21 points, 11 rebounds and eight assists. If the game were closer, a triple double seemed pretty likely.
But Durant said his return really did not click for him until teammate Russell Westbrook told him to trust his healed foot and play like he normally did. Overcoming that is the biggest part of recovery from any injury.
Gordon looked fine for his first game back. In that sense, the blowout was a good thing because it enabled Jacque Vaughn to play Gordon in his first five-on-five situation with little impunity. Getting the adrenaline out was a good thing for Gordon for sure.
He looked OK, attacking the basket and finding his fit on the team. He will obviously continue to get better and more comfortable. There seemed to be no issues with trust or any extra wrapping on his previously injured left foot.
Gordon still has to knock off some rust, but he seems confident and ready to return. His only regret is that he did not get the opportunity to guard Durant longer in this matchup.