Photo Credit: Kevin Jairaj-USA TODAY Sports

Period Of Suffering Is Over; Jabari Parker’s Comeback

One of the stories to emerge in these last two NBA seasons, has been the emergence, and rise, of talents from the NBA’s 2014 Draft. Of course, the main story from this draft has been Joel Embiid who, after two years working on his game and rehabbing injuries (as well as flaunting his great Twitter game), has hit the NBA court with a bang. But other players have emerged, too (Julius Randle, Zach LaVine, TJ Warren, Jusuf Nurkić, Nikola Jokić, Jordan Clarkson, Rodney Hood…).

While the number one pick Andrew Wiggins (famously moved from the Cleveland Cavaliers to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a trade for Kevin Love) may have ended up being awarded Rookie of the Year for the draft season of 2014/15, it may not have been the case had one Jabari Parker not torn his Anterior Cruciate Ligament after 25 games. Parker was the clear standout of the rookie year before his injury, and looked set to cruise to ROY before he went down.

Then, last year, the young Milwaukee Bucks star looked to be fully recovered from his injury, and was averaging 20.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Parker had been the spark plug for a Bucks team looking to make the playoffs.

Unfortunately it wasn’t too long until the next shock hit! On February 8, Parker tore his left ACL and has since been rehabilitating from the injury.

Now, the period of suffering seems to be over. Jabari Parker will finally make his season debut on Friday when the Bucks play the Knicks in New York City.

“Jabari has worked extremely hard with our medical, performance and coaching staffs to get to this point,” Bucks General Manager Jon Horst said on Monday in a statement. “He’s passed all the tests and been cleared to return by our team physician Dr. William Raasch of the Froedtert & the Medical College of Wisconsin health network. Just as important, Jabari feels ready to play and we’re excited for his return to game action on Friday.”