Jahlil Okafor Sitting Sixers Season With Meniscus Tear

With an untimely knee injury, Center/Forward Jahlil Okafor now will play one more position for the Sixers: the bench.

Jahlil Okafor has played the 2015-2016 season as well or better than could be expected. He was drafted as a center on a team with one true strength – the center position. Not only did he start, but he led the Philadelphia 76ers in scoring. When the team struggled to pair him up with power forward Nerlens Noel, the alternative was to move Okafor to the power forward position and return Noel to his rim protecting shot blocking role as center.

In neither case was the situation ideal, but transitioning young players, particularly to a new position in the NBA, takes time. Time was on the Sixers side, until a recent injury developed to the rookie from Duke University. At first, the news about Jahlil Okafor began with a bruised shin. Then the news took on a more serious note, as it became a sore shin with a sore knee. Then swelling in the knee was reported, causing us to fear something serious was in the works. Before the team nor we knew what the cause was, Josh Wilson laid the foundation for the team’s safest ‘sit and watch’ response to Okafor, and gave good reason to do so – regardless of the outcome. But all the guesswork was eliminated on Friday, March 11, 2016:

Jahlil Okafor will undergo a minor arthroscopic procedure in his right knee. He should resume full basketball activities in approx 6 weeks.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) March 11, 2016

Keep in mind that the basketball season has just five weeks remaining, which translates into another key element of the 2016 projected roster sitting through what’s left of the 2015-2016 season. A tear in the Meniscus is nowhere near as serious as an ACL nor a MCL tear, but it is an injury that bears some challenges in its own right.

You see, the Meniscus is a piece of cartilage in your knee that cushions and stabilizes the joint. It protects the bones from wear and tear. But all it takes is a good twist of the knee to tear the meniscus. In some cases, a piece of the shredded cartilage breaks loose and catches in the knee joint, causing it to lock up. Meniscus tears are common in sports like football as well as noncontact sports requiring jumping and cutting such as basketball. They can happen when a person changes direction suddenly while running.

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The treatment for a Meniscus tear is problematic, as it involves the location of the tear. You see, the meniscus has two zones: the red zone and the white zone. The red zone is the outer third of the meniscus, known as the “red zone”, has a good blood supply and can sometimes heal on its own if the tear is small. In contrast, the inner two thirds of the meniscus, known as the “white zone,” does not have a good blood supply. Tears in this region will not heal on their own as this area lacks blood vessels to bring in healing nutrients. If a tear is large, unstable, or causing locking symptoms surgery may be required to either repair or remove unstable edges. The procedure is usually pretty simple, and the patient can often go home the same day. In some cases, a brace may be required to protect the site while healing takes place.

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As with any connective tissue surgery, the healing process will be gradual. As such, returning to exercise of that area of the body will be managed and monitored closely. Thankfully, the team has one of the world’s leading authorities in the field of sports science / medicine in Dr. David T. Martin. He’s already managing the rehabilitation of teammate Joel Embiid, and is renowned for his innovative and effective style of managing athletes’ recoveries.

Jahlil Okafor called it "sigh of relief" to get small meniscus tear diagnosis. It's "something minor," and good to know what was going on.
— brianseltzer (@brianseltzer) March 11, 2016

For the time being, we await the surgery and the recovery. Since the spectrum of recovery is anywhere from four to six weeks, you might think that the six weeks announcement is conservative and suggestive the injured area is rather serious. But the fact that ‘six weeks to full basketball activities’ suggests that the actual injury recovery more likely falls into the shorter four week recovery time line.