Basketball may not be as much a contact sport, yet the injuries are not so uncommon. A recent victim from the NBA community has been Anthony Davis. The 31-year-old player recently suffered an eye injury, however, the Brow is said to have regained his vision now. What emerged out of the discussion on AD’s injury on an episode of FreeDawkins was James Worthy revisiting the time he suffered a similar fate. And how Kareem Abdul-Jabbar helped him deal with it.

Worthy recollected that he had suffered an eye injury in college as well. But the second time it happened, it was almost an inch of figure in there. “I was crying all night long,” he stated about his second eye injury, which he suffered in 1985. The 3x NBA champion states that when he returned to the game, he was having issues every time he got closer to the rim.

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“Kareem saw it. He said, I think you’re afraid of contact because he had a serious eye injury in college, and the same thing happened to him,” James stated on the show. Another panel member on the show, Robert Horry, too added to this. He stated he is also among the ones to have suffered eye injury in college.

“I had a guy stick his finger… I had to have plastic surgery repair my eyelid because he ripped my eyelid,” he stated. Two members on the same panel and two players in discussion—Anthony Davis and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar—all suffering eye injuries shows how common the scenario is in professional basketball.

In fact, a study by Susanne Medeiros posted on the American Academy of Ophthalmology states “basketball is the leading cause of sports-related eye injuries in the United States”. The study suggests the simple preventive measure to be protective eyewear.

NBA players who donned protective glasses on-court

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is at the top of the list. The 7’2″ tall player always stayed protective of his eyes after suffering two eye injuries. The first one was a corneal scratch in 1968, while the second injury was in 1974. With time, the protective goggles became a part of 6x NBA champion’s identity and legacy.

Another popular name on the list is Horace Grant. Grant started wearing glasses after getting diagnosed with myopia. However, even after undergoing LASIK surgery, the 4x NBA champion continued with the goggles to inspire the younger generation. As mentioned above, James Worthy started with protective goggles after Kareem’s advice after his eye injury.

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Clearly, the high cases of eye injuries in this sport and the level of risk associated with an eye injury further is the reason protective eyewear should be promoted from college level itself. Notably, the interesting factor about all the above players is that all of them have had successful careers with NBA championships in their name. This reflects that protection is not coming at the cost of performance either.

College Basketball Stars Whose Career-Ending Injuries Broke NBA Dreams