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Hassan Whiteside had an incredible rise to the NBA, but it almost never was. The Miami Heat star was involved in a string of accidents as a kid and one was dangerously close to a near-death experience. Tom Haberstroh of Bleacher Report writes:
Yes, the legs. When he was a child, a mishap—Whiteside kicked a trophy glass case—resulted in him getting 68 stitches. A three-inch scar remains. He once needed 27 stitches to stitch his ankle back together after nearly slicing his Achilles tendon in half while roughhousing. This past season, he suffered a bone bruise in his left knee during the Heat’s first game and it never got right, causing him to miss a chunk of games. Then there’s the 12-inch strip of his right shin that is numb to the touch—a reminder of the time Whiteside, just 10 years old and walking to the store in Gastonia, was hit by a Toyota Camry going 55 mph.
The ambulance rushed Whiteside’s gangly body to the Gaston Memorial Hospital where he struggled to maintain consciousness and slipped into a state of shock. His mangled leg was broken in three places to boot—'My leg,' Whiteside says looking back, ‘looked like a banana'—and after doctors surgically repaired it they needed a defibrillator to wake him up.
“My mom said I stopped breathing,” Whiteside says.
Thankfully, Whiteside was able to overcome his injuries as a kid and develop into an excellent basketball player. He has shown a knack for fighting through adversity and succeeding against all odds.
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Whiteside's last couple years have been rocky with the Miami Heat, and he's working to rebuild trust within the organization after it looked like he may be traded this summer.
Doubt Whiteside at your own risk, though. He has beaten tougher odds in his life.
