Toronto Raptors All-Star center Pascal Siakam has opened up about how his return from a major injury played out.

After almost six months, Raptors star Pascal Siakam finally played his first game of the season against the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday.

Siakam, who underwent first surgery of his career to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder in June, did well in his return, dropping 15 points in 25 minutes of action. However, he also admitted that his Raptors comeback wasn't like a walk in the park. In fact, he even felt difficulty in breathing “at one point.”

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“It was tough,” Siakam said of his return via TSN Canada. “After my first three minutes I think I needed some gas or something. My legs were heavy and I think I couldn’t breathe at one point, but it was expected.”

Further revealing the details of his emotional road to recovery, Siakam also recalled being reduced to tears after learning that he is about to undergo surgery as he had “many things” already going on in his head heading into the new season with the Raptors.

“I’ve been through a lot,” he reflected. “I remember when [vice president of player health and performance] Alex [McKechnie] told me [I had] to get surgery. It was my first surgery [so I was] obviously super scared and I just remember crying.”

“I don’t think I’ve cried like that since my dad passed away,” the 27-year-old continued. “I think just because of the season that we had [last year], I wanted go into the summer, I had so many things planned, and it just felt like another blow.”