Marcus Smart has battled through some tough injuries in his six seasons with the Boston Celtics. And he’s got the scars to prove it.
Smart infamously injured his shooting hand back in 2018 after cutting it on a picture frame in a team hotel room in Los Angeles. Doctors removed all the glass they could from the guard’s hand at the time, and Smart returned to the court 11 games later.
Had the glass been one-eighth of an inch in another direction, however, Smart’s career could have ended then and there.
“The doctor actually told me … an eighth of an inch away (and) I probably might not be playing basketball again for the rest of my life,” Smart recently told ESPN’s Zach Lowe on “The Lowe Postcast.” “They said it would have torn everything in my hand. It was a pretty thick amount of glass that came out of my hand. I couldn’t believe it once I’m looking at them open up my hand and taking out glass.
“I actually still have pieces of glass stuck in my hand now that they said would probably be more of a threat of them trying to and getting it than just letting it be in my hand.”
But the glass doctors did recover now serves as a constant reminder for Smart.
“I actually still have the glass somewhere saved … to remind me each and every day how blessed I am to still be playing,” he said.
Scary stuff.
