The 31-year-old San Antonio Spurs player Manu Ginobili was hospitalized this week in order to have a repair surgery for his left ankle. Previous to his final decision the player had been struggling with the injury and despite the therapy and rehabilitation his doctors advised, his ankle kept bothering him.
Ginobili, who is an Argentinean-Italian born has played in the NBA since 2002 when he signed with the Spurs and ever since he has played a total of six season with the San Antonio team. Manu is also part of the Argentinean national team and he played during the Olympics games in Beijing, his talent as a guard was of extreme aid to the team as they achieved the bronze medal but it was made clear his efforts triggered the injury again which became a more serious concern for the basketball player. Even Ginobili himself stated that he would have wanted to be part of the final game Argentina played during the tournament but he knew he could not put more stress on his condition.
Spurs’ doctors had previously made some tests to his injury but there was no sign of improvement, reason why both the doctors and Ginobili decided to have the surgery.
"They're going to perform a surgery on me. Now, the thing is, the injury is not worse but it's not better either, and it seems like the only way to repair it completely is arthroscopic surgery." indicated the player to the Argentina's La Nacion newspaper.
Manu’s surgery was performed by Dr. Richard Ferkel in a Los Angeles hospital and it was announced that it was a complete success. Ginobili will have to walk with crutches for more less three weeks but right after that he will be able to begin his regular therapy and he could then think about going back to play for his team which could be in the first weeks of the new season.
There is no doubt that Ginobili will be missed by the Spurs since for the 2008-09 season he was expected to be a leading man in the team, and especially after last season’s performance averaging more assists, points and rebounds as to his input during the playoffs where the Spurs wiped off teams like the Suns, the Cavaliers, and the Nuggets
As the surgery was only done a few days ago, there is no time frame established for his comeback as he will need to be monitored by his doctors and there should be signs of improvements, otherwise neither the Spurs nor the player will risk going back to the arena. The latest news state Ginobili’s absence will be of two or three months but let’s just hope for the best that he will be able to get back on his feet again sooner so that we – NBA fans – will enjoy watching this incredible basketball player leading the Spurs to another conference title as he has previously done.
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