Caris LeVert's injury is a Jones fracture, which is what Kevin Durant had

Submitted by Erik_in_Dayton on

Caris is at the combine but not working out.  He revealed that his injury is a Jones fracture, which is what Kevin Durant had a couple of years ago.  Below is a link from UMHoops with an interview with Caris (please visit - I don't want to steal clicks from them), a link that gives general information on Jones fractures, and a link that talks about KD's Jones fracture and what it meant for him as far as returning to the Thunder.

If you don't want to read up on the medical information, I can tell you as a non-doctor that a Jones fracture occurs when one of the foot thingys near the baby toe suffers a boo boo - usually because of stress rather than a single incident.  And unfortunately, a Jones fracture often merits surgery because the chances of reinjury are relatively high.

 

 

http://www.umhoops.com/2016/05/16/notebook-caris-levert-reveals-jones-f…

 

http://www.foothealthfacts.org/footankleinfo/fifth-metatarsal_fractures…

 

http://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/10/12/6965691/kevin-durant-jones-fract…

EDIT: Mods: Is this old news?  Delete?

stephenrjking

May 16th, 2016 at 11:14 AM ^

I don't want to bag on you, Erik, since you're a quality poster, but wasn't this revealed a couple of weeks ago? Regardless, what a tough year for Caris. Hate to see this happen to anyone, but especially someone who came back.

mGrowOld

May 16th, 2016 at 11:32 AM ^

This is news to me.  I knew he was injured and not participating in the combine drills but the specific nature of his injury hadnt been publicly released as far as I know.

Maybe Steven's got some inside sources.

Lanknows

May 16th, 2016 at 4:03 PM ^

I don't know why this would be the case as people have recovered from such injuries before and will again.

If you're saying it's because he's too skinny - Kevin Durant, Jamal Crawford, and many others have had very successful NBA careers.

Yo_Blue

May 16th, 2016 at 11:26 AM ^

I recall a discussion about Caris a while back, but I don't recall reading about the exact nature of the injury.  Thanks, Erik.

El Jeffe

May 16th, 2016 at 11:27 AM ^

Yep, the fifth metatarsal is a sumbitch. I broke mine my senior year in hs and was in a cast for 2 months because they treat those things so carefully. At that time the name Keith Byars was floating around--if you remember him his career basically ended because he kept re-breaking his fifth metatarsal. Something about less blood to that bone and so healing is really slow and sketchy. The relevant passage from wikipedia:

Byars was a preseason favorite for the 1985 Heisman, but fractured the bone in his right foot near the little toe in preseason practice. He missed the first five games of the 1985 season, and returned too early. He reinjured the broken bone in his second game back and missed the remainder of the regular season. He attempted to return for the Citrus Bowl game on December 28, but injured his foot again in the second Ohio State offensive series of the game. Many observers note that throughout the remainder of his football career Byars was never as dominant a player as he had been in 1984.

*shakes fist at fifth metatarsals for Caris*

Get well, pal.

wolfman81

May 16th, 2016 at 3:54 PM ^

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TraumaRN

May 16th, 2016 at 11:35 AM ^

Speaking medically 5th metacarpal/metatarsal fractures of the hand or the foot are usually long, surgically repaired nightmare recoveries. Our anatomy is such that we don't have great bloodflow around that area which can slow healing or lead to incomplete healing so risk of re-fracture is high. Definitely not an injury you mess around with. I hope Caris the best and hopefully he can recover enough to play a few years in the NBA. Poor damn Caris

copacetic

May 16th, 2016 at 11:43 AM ^

Pretty awesome that Durant gave Levert a call. From the yahoo article:

 

“Stay the course,” LeVert said Durant told him, “because once this rehab is over, you’ll forget all about it.”
Along with the foot injury, LeVert and Durant have the same orthopedic surgeon in New York, Martin O’Malley, and have discussed the road to returning to full strength.

 

StephenRKass

May 16th, 2016 at 11:57 AM ^

I hope that Caris recovers fully. This underscores a couple things to me.

  1. I think Beilein was doing the right thing by being so cautious, and also so circumspect. There always was an undercurrent of grumbling that Caris should be playing. It is obvious that recovery is long, and reinjury isn't worth it.
  2. This also tells me that Michigan had some incredibly bad luck. You don't hear about Jones fractures (injuries to the 5th metatarsal bone) very often. It is a rare injury and one that can't be anticipated or expected or avoided. Stuff happens. But the reality is that Michigan's play would have been vastly different if McGary hadn't been screwed by the NCAA, and Caris by the injury.

If we had McGary another year, and LeVert had been able to play, the outcome of the last few seasons would have been vastly different. There's no point in going down the "if only" speculation trail. But still, you can see how badly Michigan was affected. In other words, I am in the "it isn't Beilein's bad coaching" and the "it isn't Beilein's bad recruiting" camp.

MI Expat NY

May 16th, 2016 at 1:36 PM ^

I still contend that Beilein didn't handle the situation well because, in my opinion, his handling created the grumbling that Caris should be playing.  I don't think anyone felt that Caris should be playing on a serious injury, such as a broken foot.  People were grumbling because it seemed that he had a sprained ankle, or some other relatively minor injury.  Beilein's secrecy and obsfucation were what created the backlash, not Caris getting hurt.  

MI Expat NY

May 16th, 2016 at 3:22 PM ^

What did we really gain by that?  He almost always said enough that it was pretty clear Caris wasn't playing in the next game.  And for what?  Making your star player look soft and selfish?  I get hiding the nature of an injury for a kid who is going to actually be playing to protect him from opponents targeting the injury.  But that wasn't the case here.

poseidon7902

May 16th, 2016 at 3:59 PM ^

I agree.  This mentality didn't work out well for Hoke either with his 'boo-boos' philosophy.  In the end it was part of the hole that sunk him.  Not that Beilein is in that situation, but if your player is legitimately out, then set the proper expectations for your fans.  Dragging them week by week only intesifies their feelings around the situation.  Remember, never turn a 1 day story into a 3 day story.  Same philosophy.  

That said, if there was legitimate possibility that LaVert could return, then he was in the right.  I just don't see that being the case seeing the data that is now out.  

bronxblue

May 16th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^

Ugh, sounds terrible. Hope he can recover. Also, big sarcastic ups to all the keyboard warriors around here who said Caris wasn't playing to protect his draft stock and they totally would have played through any injury. I'm sure you totally beat the best athletes you played against in that other thread over the weekend.

bronxblue

May 16th, 2016 at 12:17 PM ^

Ugh, sounds terrible. Hope he can recover. Also, big sarcastic ups to all the keyboard warriors around here who said Caris wasn't playing to protect his draft stock and they totally would have played through any injury. I'm sure you totally beat the best athletes you played against in that other thread over the weekend.