Bernard King helped pave the way for the success of ACL reconstruction surgery, so all the weekend warriors like me who are returning to activity after an ACL tear owe a debt of gratitude to the guy. He was the first NBA player to return to the court after tearing his ACL. Before that, an ACL tear was a career-ending injury. But the now retired King has had some medical troubles recently. He fell down some stairs and cracked his skull 3 months ago and just a couple of weeks ago, he apparently suffered a stroke. So send some love vibes to the big guy.
By the way, if you don't know his story, it's quite phenomenal. Nobody expected him to return after tearing his ACL, but not only did he return, he came back better than ever. In 1991, he was third in the league in points per game, coming in behind only Michael Jordan and Karl Malone.
And he did this even after changing his playing style due to the ACL injury. NBA.com describes it this way:
Even more remarkably, King changed his playing style to accommodate the loss of explosiveness he had suffered because of his knee injury. Where most of his points had once come from posting up, flinging in bump-and-fade jumpers from the baseline and shooting from the perimeter, the "new" King was a face-up player who scored most of his points with slashing moves to the basket. He had become a complete in-the-paint player.
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