For Smith Jr., the road to recovery was hard, and started the day of his diagnosis last year. Smith Jr. knew before he even left California that he had torn his ACL, an injury that would require him to sit out at least 10 months and miss his entire senior year of basketball. But when he got home, he quickly realized that the injury — while serious — might not have been as worse as originally feared. There was no pain and swelling in his knee, allowing doctors to operate almost right away. And when they did go in for surgery, they found a surprise:
Smith Jr. had an extra ligament in his knee. If you didn’t even know that was possible, you’re certainly not alone, as only 20 percent of all humans have one, doctors told Smith Sr. But those who do have the added benefit of quicker recovery times when coming off serious injuries like the one Junior suffered.
LONG BEACH, CA- July 31, 2016: adidas Nations at the Next Level Sports Complex, Long Beach, CA. (Copyright: Todd Burandt/adidas)
“Adrian Peterson has the same thing,” Smith Sr. said. “That’s what allowed him to come back so fast.”
Smith Jr. wasn’t back right away, but frankly it didn’t take nearly as long as many might think.
“I’m a single parent, I still had to take care of him like a baby for a while,” Smith Sr. said. But after those first few days, Junior did the rest. He began lifting free weights in bed just days after surgery, strengthening his back and shoulders, and making sure that even if his lower-body started out a little weaker, his upper body wouldn’t be.
Then came the lower body, which came a short time after. Just a few short weeks after the surgery, Smith Jr. wasn’t just back on his feet. He was back dunking.
“I had to slow him down,” Smith Sr. said. “He was dunking two weeks after he got out [of surgery].”
This dude had a torn ligament and was dunking two weeks after surgery.
Well that explains it. Especially in AP's case.
comin through