Julius Randle opted to declare for the NBA Draft after leading Kentucky to the NCAA championship game in his freshman season, but some professional scouts are concerned about a foot injury he suffered during his senior season in high school.
Randle broke his right foot in the second game of his senior season at Prestonwood Christian Academy in Texas, and he underwent an operation to have a screw inserted into the injured foot. The foot eventually healed and Randle was able to play in all 40 games for the Wildcats this season, but some NBA experts are still hesitant about drafting a player who has metal in his foot, especially since he’s still growing.
“This is an issue,” an unnamed NBA executive told ESPN. “It didn’t heal right.”
While it’s uncertain how the executive is aware that the foot “didn’t heal right,” it wouldn’t be the first time a young athlete reinjured his surgically repaired foot. Dr. Silverman explains:
“I don’t have access to X-ray or MRIs for either player, but this story sounds eerily similar to that of Julio Jones. Both players suffered a foot injury at an early stage of their career (Randle in high school, Jones prior to the NFL draft), and each had hardware inserted into their foot during a corrective operation. The screw in Jones’ foot fractured last season while he was making a catch. He needed another operation and was forced to miss the remainder of the year.
As for Randle, he didn’t appear to have any issues with the foot while at Kentucky, but I do think he should continue to have doctors evaluate his foot. As I noted in the blog post on Jones, broken screws in the foot usually occur because of incomplete treatment. In many cases there are underlying issues that cause abnormal forces to overstress the screw or other areas of the foot. Randle will want to make sure his heel remains in alignment and that he’s not suffering from ankle instability.
As long as teams continue to monitor the foot, I expect Randle to be fine.”
Randle is expected to work out for the Celtics on Friday. He is expected to be a Top 10 pick in this year’s draft.
Related source: ESPN.com
