Former North Carolina Tar Heel and current German national team player made a very short statement today about his injury that prevents him from going to the Olympics. And something that was supposed to be a minor problem turns out to be very serious.
The German player announced today via the website of the German basketball federation the following statement about his injury:
The result of the analysis was a broken vertebra which has been operated pm. The operation went well and I am currently in rehab. The reason of the broken vertebra was presumably a tumor. Further analysis to identify the exact context of the tumor will be done shortly. It is pretty impossible that I will play during the 2008/2009 season.
This announcement was of course a huge shock for every German basketball fan, as Okulaja has always been a symbol of the German team. What looked in the beginning like another injury taking “the Warrior” away from a big tournament — he already missed the Eurobasket 2005 and the German silver medal — is not turning into a tragedy for the power forward. We wish Adi all the best and we hope to see him back on the court soon.
