For many Pacers fans, Paul George's gruesome fracture of his right tibia and fibula was their first exposure to that type of injury. Unfortunately for point guard Donald Sloan, he's all too familiar with that horrific break.
Five years ago, Sloan's close friend and college teammate Derrick Roland suffered the exact same injury as George in game against Washington. Sloan was on the floor when it happened.
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He wasn't at the USA Basketball Showcase on Aug. 1 when George's injury occurred, but he could instantly sympathize with what his teammate was going through. For Sloan, the toughest pill to swallow is the seemingly random nature of the fracture.
"It’s just a freak accident," Sloan said. "Would it have happened two days later if he was in practice just jumping up and down? Some people say it was the way he came down on the pad, but guys hit that pad all the time and nothing happens.
"I’ve seen him actually hit it last year a few times, chasing down guys, blocking shots and his foot hit the pad and it didn’t happen. So it was just a freak accident."
Roland's injury involved even less force than George's.
"With Derrick, he went straight up and came down," Sloan recalled. "Not anybody’s foot, just straight down on the floor and he just gave out. Would that have happened two days later in practice when we’re playing five-on-five, who knows?"
Despite their shared injuries, Sloan hasn't been able to put George in touch with Roland. Roland was overseas at the time of George's injury, making him hard to reach. And with so many people reaching out to give their support and well wishes to George, Sloan couldn't even get ahold of him for several days after the injury.
Pacers fans can take solace in the fact that Roland made a full recovery. The injury cut his senior season short and the NCAA denied his attempt to get a medical redshirt and an extra year of eligibility, but Roland has carved out a nice career internationally.
The 6-4 guard from Seagoville, Texas has played in Chile, Cyprus, Venezuela, Argentina, and now the United Kingdom. He's currently playing for Leicester Riders, where he's averaged 10 points over the team's first six games.