Every day of the week, Chris Mannix of SI will register with his Bubble Bits, a quick success in something remarkable from inside the NBA campus
LAGO BUENA VISTA, Florida. In the middle of the third trimester, a quiet gym suddenly became noisy. When Andre Roberson recorded the Oklahoma City scrimmage against Boston on Friday, it marked Roberson’s first appearance since January 27 … 2018. When Roberson stepped on the ground, the Thunder bench stood up and greeted Roberson with a standing ovation. foot.
“There were a lot of emotions,” Roberson said after the game. “Eager, happy, too ecstatic to get back on the ground.”
It has been a long way back for Roberson. He was once a key player on Oklahoma City’s contending teams alongside Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. So, a broken kneecap. Then a setback. Then another. In Roberson’s absence, the Thunder team that began to disband after Durant’s defection was completely dismantled.
Still, Roberson continued to work.
On Friday, 909 days after his last live action, Roberson, 28, returned to an NBA floor.
Roberson was rusty. In his first few minutes, he trembled for the shaky 6-foot-7-foot wing, attributed to new sneakers and a slippery floor. Quickly, however, Roberson made himself comfortable. He played nearly 12 minutes, scoring five points, including a three-corner, and two rebounds, while providing his annoying characteristic defense with a steal and a block. Not that it mattered. For Roberson, just being back on the floor was enough.
“The boys couldn’t have been more excited for him,” said Thunder coach Billy Donovan. “Certainly, the staff was very excited for him. I know I was, just looking at what has happened in the past two years. And then I think you were able to see what made him a great defensive player, the things he does and how smart he is, his footing ability, his length. He really played very, very well. And I give him a lot of credit for a guy who has had as much time as he has to go out in the first competitive situation and then do a great job. “
Roberson’s return deepens an already strong Oklahoma City second unit. The Thunder will resume the season tied with Houston for fifth place in the Western Conference, one game behind Utah (which will be without Bojan Bogdanovic for the remainder of the season) and 2 ½ behind the Nuggets. A versatile defender, Roberson is another body, one with a lot of playoff experience, that Donovan can pitch to some of the West’s top scorers. Roberson will not play significant minutes, but in a strange season, every advantage counts.
That is a topic for another day. For now, Roberson is happy to be playing. He laughed as he answered questions from local reporters after the game. When he was done, he hugged Matt Tumbleson, Thunder’s public relations man. For more than two years, Roberson wondered if his NBA career was over. On Friday, it started again.
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