Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic suffered a devastating injury on Monday night against the Brooklyn Nets. The five-year veteran landed awkwardly and fractured both his tibia and his fibula.
It was immediately clear to all in the vicinity that Nurkic had suffered a horrendous injury.
Stretcher coming out immediately for Nurkic. This is a tough scene. Nets players saw it and immediately sprinted away from him.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) March 26, 2019
Massive blow for Nurkic and Blazers. His finest season -- and best career-scoring night w/ 32. As Thunder slide, Blazers were positioning to make deep playoff run. Late-season injuries hounding Portland in recent years. Brutal night in Rip City. Stotts on Nurkic: "Devastating."
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) March 26, 2019
The Blazers announced that Jusuf Nurkic tonight sustained season-ending compound fractures to his left tibia and fibula
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) March 26, 2019
Not surprisingly, Nurkic will miss the entirety of the postseason. His status for the 2019-20 season is not yet known.
Nurkic was having a spectacular year, easily the best of his career. His season ends with averages of 15.6 points, 10.4 rebounds, 3.2 assists, 1.4 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game. His defense has taken a huge step forward, and by most people’s accounts, he has evolved into Portland’s second-best player.
He was a huge reason for the Blazers success this year, as Portland has gone 44-30 and is currently the fourth seed in the West.
The loss of the Bosnian Beast is a huge blow for the Blazers, and makes a deep playoff run nearly impossible. Still, it’s hard when players suffer such awful injuries to think much about the team. All we can do is hope that he will recover fully.
If you want to see the injury that Nurkic suffered, you can easily find it on Twitter. However, please do not post it in the comments, as it is very gruesome.