Portland Trailblazers star LaMarcus Aldridge was initially expected to be sidelined for the next six to eight weeks due to an injured left thumb that requires him to undergo surgery. But to everyone’s surprise he made a bold decision to delay his surgery until the end of this season.
This decision from Aldridge is certainly quite a risk to take. There is no guarantee that his injury will cooperate enough not to disrupt his performance throughout the rest of the season. In fact, the worst case scenario for him and the Blazers would be to add further damage to his left thumb, which may possibly have bigger consequences in the future.
From the Blazer’s official Twitter account:
BREAKING: LaMarcus Aldridge (ligament tear left thumb) puts surgery on hold; will play tonight versus Washington.
— Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) January 24, 2015
From Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports:
“We are having a good season and I want to keep it going. Going to try and play with it if I can and go from there,” @aldridge_12 told Yahoo
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) January 24, 2015
From Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
Sources: Aldridge tested thumb on his own and reported to Portland trainer on Saturday morning he wanted to play. This was his decision.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) January 24, 2015
But despite this, Aldridge seems to be determined to lead his team to the very end of the first season in a long while where they have truly legitimate chances at the title. The Blazers need his services in order to have a real run at their second NBA championship since 1977.
In 39 this season, Aldridge is averaging 23.2 points and 10.2 rebounds while playing under 36 minutes per contest.
And for now, it looks like this was a good decision for Aldridge, as he looked like his normal self during his return on their Saturday night 103-96 victory against the Wizards with him leading the way for a game-high of 26 points while playing with an injured thumb…
Now that’s the way to make a return.
Benjamin Felix Santos is currently a senior college student from Manila, PH. An aspiring NBA writer, who bleeds the purple and gold. His love and passion for the game will never die.
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