The Golden Age of Basketball-Chapter 594 - 9 Group of 3
Sabonis and Petrović both had health issues, and serious ones at that.
In 1986, while preparing for the World Championships in Spain, Sabonis suffered a severe ankle injury. After some rest, he tore his right Achilles tendon during a club match.
Then, in the domestic league finals, he forced himself to return before fully recovering, helping his team win the championship. This exacerbated his Achilles tendon injury.
Often injuries are a result of accumulated fatigue. In 1987, while the Soviet Team was preparing for the European Championships, Sabonis’s Achilles tendon completely ruptured, which was a serious injury.
During his recovery, he fell down the stairs, resulting in a re-tear of his Achilles tendon, which aggravated his injuries further.
After that, he entered a lengthy recovery period, during which he traveled to Portland for surgery and received America’s most advanced medical treatments.
Initially, the Trail Blazers’ team doctor had advised him to rest for a year and a half, which meant he would miss the 1988 Seoul Olympics.
However, just before the Olympics, Sabonis announced that he would attend the Games, but only as a spectator watching from the sideline.
But once he truly rejoined the team and was able to play, the national team did not hesitate to put him on the court. With his staggering steps, he helped the Soviet Union achieve the highest honor.
This led Team USA’s coach, John-Thompson, to curse the Portland Trail Blazers, accusing them of aiding the enemy by helping Sabonis undergo surgery.
"You already have a superstar center from China, and now another Soviet superstar center, and you help him defeat Team USA. Are you even an American team anymore?"
Due to Team USA’s failure in Seoul in 1988, by 1989, America pushed FIBA to allow professional players to participate in the Olympics and World Championships.
This move objectively facilitated the arrival in the NBA of a large number of European players like Sabonis and Divac, as they no longer had to worry about joining NBA teams and being unable to play for their countries.
Yet, due to a series of injuries and forced comebacks, Sabonis’s health was not promising.
During the 1988–1989 season, he got injured again in the league. It wasn’t just his Achilles; he also suffered chronic knee pain, habitual ankle sprains, and groin issues, which made his legs fragile, affecting his jumping and mobility.
His knees were bound in two specially made knee pads, and he could hardly perform slam dunks as he did before 1986.
After arriving in Portland, during a routine health check-up, doctors found his legs riddled with scars, only slightly better than those of Bill Walton, and certainly no match for those who, like Gan Guoyang, had never suffered serious injuries.
Therefore, Sabonis’s concerns for himself were not merely due to lack of confidence; he was very aware of his physical condition and was extremely worried about the dense NBA schedule.
Fortunately, the Trail Blazers had already established a quite thorough and cautious player health assessment system, providing the safest recommendations on whether a player was fit to play, prioritizing player health above all.
While the NBA season is indeed long, the Trail Blazers’ ample staffing allows players time to rest and recuperate.
Besides, the Trail Blazers still have Ah Gan, the NBA’s top workhorse player who averages 40 minutes per game, ensuring their front line is always covered.
Compared to Sabonis, Divac was in very good shape, serving as an alternative to Sabonis. The issue with Divac was that he had not yet served his obligatory one-year military service in Yugoslavia, which could complicate his basketball career.
Having already completed his military service, Petrović faced some health issues during the summer.
Unlike Sabonis, the same-age Petrović had been very healthy previously, with no major injuries.
After coming to Portland, he couldn’t sit still; he wasn’t interested in sightseeing but just wanted to find a place to play basketball.
As a result, during training at the Portland Community College gym, he suddenly felt a back pain so severe that he couldn’t move.
The trainer training with him took him back to his apartment and then notified the team doctor to conduct a comprehensive examination to determine the source of the pain.
Initially, the medical team thought Petrović had sciatica, which could be treated with minimally invasive surgery.
But after a more detailed, comprehensive examination, Portland area’s renowned Japanese-American neurosurgeon, Calvin Tanabe, thought Petrović’s herniated disc was the problem. Fragments inside were compressing nerves, causing pain in his back and legs.
Upon receiving the relevant information, West requested immediate surgery for Petrović to ensure he could rest and recover well during the off-season.
Thus, Calvin Tanabe performed the surgery on Petrović, removing some bone fragments from his discs.
During the procedure, Doctor Tanabe found a cyst on his disc, which was pressing on a nerve in Petrović’s back and causing his ongoing back pain. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦
After removing the fragments and the cyst, Petrović’s back pain and leg discomfort vanished.
Like Sabonis, his next step was to rest and prepare for the new season.
Because of the surgery, he missed the Trail Blazers’ July summer league training camp and could only watch his teammates train and compete from the sideline.
Sabonis received the same treatment; they both could only watch from the sidelines, and the doctors’ advice to them both was to rest.
