Whether because of age, injury, mileage, or some combination of the three, Kobe never really recovered. It's important to distinguish that Kobe did not make it back to the All-Star game based on his level of play. Only Dominique, Elton Brand, and Christian Laettner were able to produce even reasonable facsimiles of their former selves, and only Dominique and Kobe made an All-Star game after his injury. The list is below, as presented by Chris Towers in the last piece linked above, with the addition of Wesley Matthews and Gay.Įven though each of these players made it back to the NBA, the injury effectively marked the end of most of their careers. The crux of the issue is that of the 15 other players who have returned to the NBA after a ruptured Achilles since 1992, only Dominique was able to get back to his pre-injury production. Much has been made of their impact on players in the NBA, and you can dig into the details of which NBA players have suffered from them and how they performed after here, here, and here. Can he buck the odds like Dominique, or will it be all downhill from here?Īchilles injuries are bad.
