Fifty-eight days after a surgeon repaired a fractured bone in his left foot, rookie forward Aaron Gordon played in a basketball game Sunday, suiting up for the Orlando Magic during their 127-99 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
In 12 minutes, he finished with eight points and three rebounds.
Best of all, he reported no problems with his surgically repaired foot and said he had no significant problems with his conditioning.
“I feel great, man,” Gordon said. “I just enjoy the game so much. You realize that when you’re not playing, how much you miss it. And then when I got back out there, it’s fun. I learned a lot [when I was injured]. I just move better without the ball now.”
Perhaps no one inside Amway Center understands what Gordon has gone through over the last two months better than Thunder superstar Kevin Durant.
In mid-October, Durant fractured the fifth metatarsal in his right foot and underwent surgery to repair the injury.
Durant and Gordon employed the same surgeon, Robert Anderson.
But Durant played in his first game following the injury on Dec. 2, exactly 47 days after his procedure.
“I think everybody’s body is a little different,” Durant said. “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.”
As of Sunday, Gordon still hadn’t done any five-on-five work with his teammates, and Gordon acknowledged he expected to be rusty.
It took Durant a while to feel comfortable.
“I practiced, like, four times before I played,” Durant recalled. “The first day of practice, I wasn’t trusting myself. I wasn’t trusting my foot. I wasn’t trusting my body. And I wasn’t myself.
“Russell [Westbrook] just told me one day, ‘It’s healed. Trust it and it’s going to be all right.’ Those words kind of helped me. Always being around great people that encourage you — that’s what really helped me get through it. Obviously, rehab and stuff like that [helped too], but just their words of encouragement helped me more, I think. So once I started to believe that it’s healed and I can play, I started to go out there and be myself again.”
KD praises Oladipo
Durant and Victor Oladipo hail from the Washington, D.C., area. When they first met during the summer of 2013, Durant gave Oladipo some advice about the NBA.
“Victor is playing out of his mind right now, but [he’s] a guy that I knew was going to do that,” Durant said. “He works extremely hard. He listens. And he’s a tremendous talent. He’s playing well for them. I think the good thing for him is that they’ve moved him to the 2 [shooting guard position], where he can score and make plays because he’s that athletic, D-Wade type of guy.”
Harris update
Magic forward Tobias Harris missed his fifth consecutive game because of a sprained left ankle, but Magic coach Jacque Vaughn said Harris is feeling better.
“He’s progressing to a point where he is shooting the basketball on the floor, going through individual workouts,” Vaughn said. “So no setbacks for him. He is progressing.”
jrobbins@orlandosentinel.com. Read his blog at OrlandoSentinel.com/magicblog and follow him on Twitter at @JoshuaBRobbins.
