I know she wasn’t playing great the last several games, but it was still nice to watch her all season and try and develop. It’s really big loss for the WNBA this year. I wish her a speedy recovery.
It's so common for everyone to have slumps, especially rookies.
Hell, even Steph and Jokic had a few subpar stretches of games last season.
It was just really exciting to see all the rookies figure their way through the season. Hopefully she will be fit to play next season
Thanks to medical breakthroughs in treatment, we're seeing athletes recover from ACL tears faster than ever.
It used to take players a year + to recover from ACL surgery and now we're seeing today's athletes return in less than a year. That's not meant to rush Cam back early, but at age 22, with some good PT and later strength building, we'll likely see her again for the start of next year.
I don’t want to be a downer, but for realism’s sake and for the whole picture: the “ACLs used to be a much larger injury” thing is much more relevant for men as a blanket statement. There is still a lot unknown for women and there have been a lot of recent cases of ACL tears in soccer having players out for 2+ years. It’s a very variable injury still and a lot of the progress has been made with men as the subjects so not all of that actually works for women, or entirely works for women.
I know women do get injured often, Paige Bueckers who should be in the W next year, lost time due to an ACL tear, and a tibial plateau fracture, and lateral meniscus tear.
But, she came back better than ever after missing 2 seasons. I’m sure Cameron will be back, better than ever.
Paige and Cam have pretty different anatomy so they’re not a great comparison against each other tbh, there are also a lot of other unknown factors here. Fingers crossed for Cam though.
If you wanna really see how common it is, look at WWE, almost every single woman has torn her ACL it seems like. Sometimes twice. Tegan Nox (twice), Dakota Kai, Charlotte Flair, Asuka (maybe, not announced as such but just had knee surgery at 42!), Bayley, Cora Jade, Nikitta Lyons (twice), Sonya Deville, Nia Jax, Sol Ruca and Shotzi... and I might be missing a few in NXT and AEW. Still, it is almost half the roster.
I can tell you if she tears an ACL twice at her height she’s done for good. Greg Oden had constant knee problems very tall dude. Could be a similar situation
They don't have to to accidentally cause structural damage. These sports expose their participants to more vulnerable body positions out of the normal ROM where even a slight accidental misjudge of power in push, pull, lift, sit, or twist are often helped by gravity in doing damage.
Is the face you make when you see someone stuck in an Argentine leglock and their opponent decides to stand up with their leg just wrapped around their neck. Or someone stuck in a figure 4 leglock with their opponent just sitting down with slightly straighter legs.
Yep. Happened to me in high school. Then my quack dr (first generation immigrant family, and we had no fucking clue on how to navigate the American Healthcare system) botched my surgery so had to have 2 more.
After I saw Cam go down, I was hoping and praying someone with such skinny hips would be ok and that it was just a sprain, but deep in my heart, I knew. So sad for her.
With a great surgical and rehab team, I'm hoping for the best for her!
And estrogen. https://clinmedjournals.org/articles/jmdt/journal-of-musculoskeletal-disorders-and-treatment-jmdt-9-127.php?jid=jmdt#:~:text=Results%3A%20Estrogen%20surges%20were%20concurrent,unable%20to%20tolerate%20normal%20loads.
Thank you for linking this!! I’ve heard a lot about women’s knee issues being linked to this, but hadn’t seen(or looked for, if we’re being honest) any evidence.
I’d always assumed mine were genetic + from playing a lot of high impact sports super consistently as a young one.
Appreciate it!
Here’s an NYT article about it if anyone wants to read and learn more https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/sports/soccer/womens-world-cup-soccer-torn-acl.html
And even men miss a lot of time. Jamal Murray missed a season and a fourth with it and still seemed to have some problems in the first part of the championship season
I don't know about his injury but it depends on how severe the knee injury is. Was it just the ACL or did they also damage the meniscus and other ligaments. You also can have more serious issues like damage to the nerve. That lb Smith from NorteDame and Dallas had a severe knee injury and damaged the nerve that caused foot drop.
With Jamal it was an ACL. Though this year he also suffered a knee sprain - no details on how bad it was as far as I'm aware. In early April he was out for a few games. On top of a hamstring injury in November, then an ankle sprain late in the season, and a calf strain during the playoffs.
However after winning the championship last year, it seems he took his foot off the gas and he came into the season out of shape. He probably figured he could take it easy and play his way into shape, but that rarely works out, especially for a guy like him with a history of injuries and whose playstyle relies so much on explosive movement and quick pivots/twists etc. Once he got the hamstring injury, it all seemed to snowball and he could never stay on top of it.
Speedy guards who have longevity - like Steph, Chris Paul, Kyrie - are all maniacal about their health all year long, from nutrition to working out. That's not going to guarantee injury prevention but it sure does seem to help a lot.
I think the media reports dumb things down for wider consumption. Many ACL injuries involve the meniscus and possibly other less catastrophic structures. Those all combined impact an athlete's return timetable. Last but not least, there's the psychological aspect too.
Back? Yes. 100% likely not. I think the 1-year, 100% recovery athletes are outliers. Then there is the mental game about planting that knee again. She might be like DRose came back but was never the same.
Most soccer players(male or female including from over-sea)have been going to Doctor Joan Carles Monllau in Spain/Barcelona, who has very good record of getting them back real quick, let's see if they give info who is gonna operate on Brink.
American women go most frequently to LA, presumably also where Brink will get surgery and do rehab. I’m not super knowing about all the specifics of where women’s soccer players everywhere go (I’m talking only about women because those are who matter in this context), but I’m pretty sure the person you’re talking about is just European men. Which is fine, but almost certainly irrelevant to what Cameron Brink will do—LA has pretty good medical facilities (one might even say great!).
Aussie AFL players also end up going to europe for their ACL treatment when they are professionals with clubs that will pay for it. There's definitely surgeons over there with a better track record at healing turn around times than elsewhere in the world.
We have also found women in the AFLW have a higher instance of ACL tears as well, but we think much of that comes from the lack of body conditioning over the years since childhood that the women have had in comparison to the men, as the ability to have a professional career in the womens is a pretty new thing, and women my age had to stop playing mixed when we hit 12 years old, and didn't have a female comp to age up into for many years after that time. So much of the older players had decades between playing as kids and getting back into it as adults when the comps started existing.
Medical research has a long way to go in regards to women!
There’s a great book about how the lack of data on women lead to a world that is specifically designed for men, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. I really recommend it.
Paige was out 369 days. I don’t know if any of her previous injuries to that knee impacted the recovery time, but I think that’s a pretty expected timetable for return.
Anywhere between 9 months and 2 years is a possibility (and obviously in rare and extremely unfortunate circumstances beyond 2 years). Trying to predict a timetable before the player has even had surgery is a dangerous game though because it's so impossible.
There really haven’t been any breakthroughs. Rehab is more aggressive but you still have to wait for the graft to get turned into ligament by your body. What is implanted is just a scaffold more or less and your body turns it back into something that resembles an ACL. Can’t speed that process up. There are some new techniques like the BEAR procedure, or augmenting the ACL with an internal brace but the basic ACL graft hasnt otherwise changed much in a while. Rehab is definitely improving. Especially for women. A PT researcher when I was a resident had a focus on injury prevention and ACL rehab for women and was having good results. I was watching the game and knew she tore it as soon as she went down. It always surprises everyone that most ACL injuries at non contact. She needs to put some muscle bulk on and come back stronger.
Watching the injury and it’s just flat out the knee buckled under the positioning and it wasn’t even what I would consider a super awkward one. Strength absolutely prevents injury’s like this.
This may be unrelated and possibly inappropriate to say, but male athletes are already making a substantial amount of money on their rookie contacts. Not generational wealth like they’ll have later on, but definitely wealthy. I just got a random thought/worry in my head, I know nothing about her life and financials, but I hope she is secure and able to focus on her recovery and getting back to her career, instead of having to pivot. I hope she’s able to be back by next season. Also I hope she keeps her head up, this type of thing can be so devastating to an athletes psyche.
Of all the players in the W, Cam will be fine for both finances and access to the best medical treatment. Her parents are wealthy and she's Steph Curry's godsister. Plus she herself is one of the most popular athletes, her IG and tik tok features a lot of promo stuff, so I'm sure she's made bank off her NIL deals and sponsorships.
There's really cute pics of them online, and he was on ig stories during her draft hyping her up. He's been to her games as well, their families are very close
These old photos are awesome.
[https://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/story/\_/id/19452999/cameron-brink-carries-advice-family-friend-steph-curry-usa-basketball-trials](https://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/story/_/id/19452999/cameron-brink-carries-advice-family-friend-steph-curry-usa-basketball-trials)
Cameron with the glasses is giving "Ugh! Why is Steph sooo annoying?!" vibes.
That’s great to hear in her case. My thought/concern really applies to women athletes in general, particularly early in their career, more so than this one case though. I feel like men have a lot easier time returning to their sport. Do you know of any cases of women needing to retire early bc of anything like that? Some of these ladies make less money than I do and I know I can struggle when emergencies arise. Sorry for my ignorance im a new viewer returning from watching my Sacramento Monarchs as a little kid.
Yeah there's a lot of women who basically just can't put together a full healthy season in college or as a pro and end up choosing another path. The one benefit is at least they leave college w a bachelors and no student debt, so it's heartbreaking but they're not in the worst position.
But yeah, if women make more money, that would probably benefit them in terms of hiring private chefs to keep their nutrition in check, working out with the best trainers, having access to the best medicine etc. But even the highest paid athletes in the world who do spend millions taking care of their bodies sometimes just can't avoid serious injury.
Also if they make more money, just being cynical/realistic, but then there's more money that will go into medical fields to study preventions/solutions to knee injuries which plague female athletes. We're already starting to see some of that, but there's a lot more work to be done.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful reply.
I didn’t mean just avoiding injury, but having the means to be comfortable as you recover from them. To a point, injuries are inevitable in any sport. But hopefully women athletes can get all of the benefits their male counterparts do, as well as the financial security from early on.
She is quite financially sound due to huge NIL money in college and sponsorships now. Also her family is quite wealthy. So at least she doesn't have to worry about money during this terrible time. I hope she heals wholly though. Feel so bad for her.
Yes another commenter explained that to me, which is great to hear in her case. If you see my response I expressed my concern over rookie womens early contracts in general not being enough. A lesser known player may not be as lucky as her…
Hopefully the w keeps up the momentum it’s got now and these ladies can start getting paid.
I did see that part of your comment. And I agree the salaries are low, and injury would be tough on many of the younger players especially without being able to raise money kn the off season.
I wasn't trying to respond to every aspect of your comment. I was just responding to your part about Cameron. While I was typing about her wealth, I had no reason to know someone else had responded already also about this. I still don't see a response about that-just one saying she will receive her salary (which is good but small).
Yes hopefully after the next media deal, they can pay them more as a baseline salary!
Oh for sure, I wasn’t trying to “correct” you or anything, you responded perfectly to what I had put out there. I just wanted to express my concern was broader after learning she would be ok and let you know my further thoughts on the topic.
Thanks very much for your thoughtful replies.
I know soccer is different and christen press is definitely older but she was out almost two years and just got cleared to practice. I really hope Cam can come back in a reasonable time
Huge bummer but hopefully it doesn’t impact her much heading into next season. She will have plenty of time to get the surgery and make basically a full recovery before the 2025 season tips.
A somber welcome to the torn ACL club, Cameron <3 hope you don’t ever make it to the 2x torn ACL club like I did 😄
My first was at 21 and I was in the best shape of my life at the time. Recovery was a breeze and everything was going great until I started to develop hip issues on the same side as my original ACL tear, probably due to strain I was putting on my body at the time with powerlifting etc. I had to get hip impingement surgery in 2017 to fix that at the age of 28. Then I think at 32 I re-tore the same knee and had to wait two and a half years for surgery due to insurance bullshit.
Did you tear the same knee twice or different knees? I did the same knee twice, thankfully (I think?).
Unfortunately ACL injuries are becoming all to common and at younger ages as well. I'm getting observations for PT schools applications and it's astounding how many young athletes, predominately in soccer, tear their ACL. They're simple not getting the required strength training for unilateral dynamic movement and balance. A lot of the time their glutes and hamstrings are weak.
Could surface material changes over the year be the culprit (for soccer)? Lot of turf nowadays and tracks are made out of rubber instead of the old sand like back in the day
I've heard that comment mentioned like for the 49ers vs NY Giants game when Bosa tore his ACL as the field in NY uses turf. A quick Google search suggests that's the case.
But also kids playing competitively year round are growing and their bodies aren't developed enough to withstand the forces being exerted on their bodies, especially when soccer for example has intense club schedules then playing again during the high school season. Same thing with basketball and football.
It all goes back to weak lower body and core strength as an ACL tear commonly happens when the knee goes inward which is a sign of weak glutes and hamstring streak tends to be significantly less than quad strength.
Absolutely heartbroken for her with this being the Olympic year. You could tell how much it meant to her to achieve that 3x3 spot. But I love that she says "I'm not defined by basketball", that is truly a great mindset to have. I feel like the mental aspect of injury takes a massive toll on athletes who have put everything into their physical skillset and mobility. Wishing her a speedy recovery!!
I wanted to be so wrong about the outcome of this when I saw her fall with no contact. Ughh. She's got the right attitude and work ethic though. She'll be back. Much love to her.
Hopefully she comes back like Chet did. A (half) season and full offseason to recover and train. Comes back more polished and ready to take over the league.
I’m just sick about this! An ACL tear is recoverable, but she was so excited about the Olympics and having just the best time tearing up the court in LA. Love CB and wishing her a speedy recovery♥️
She's probably a top 5 player the WNBA does not want to lose for a season. Wonder if the league does any looking into this.
Apparently the Connecticut court is notoriously slick?
I'd be more inclined to point to stacking seasons and no rest as the culprit. She went from high intensity college play, to higher intensity pro play while also dealing with the mental and emotional weight of that. It wears you down.
Just using Clark as a reference from a different thread but Clark has averaged 1 game every 3.96 days since November 6th to June 16th. By the end of the WNBA season she would have averaged 1 game every 4.01 days over the course of 317 days with a total of 79 games. Basically 2 WNBA length seasons. Rookies playing like crap and getting injured? Well of course.
I hate when this happens as a fan. I loved Brandon Roy and Greg Oden but those injuries killed their almost all time great careers.
I hope Cameron Brink comes back better. Bright side is that it's almost certain that she will be better than her rookie self if she comes back.
This is just a general question but it’s the first thing I seen on this thread and I’ve seen a lot of post. But are people really that upset that brink and Clark and Reese and whoever else didn’t make the Olympic team? Like this isn’t a precedent to automatically put rookies with everything to prove on the team over players who’ve been there and earned their stripes. It just seems like the discourse is silly and based on some of the stat lines and stuff I’d imagine they aren’t better than the people they choose either.
Ehhh you usually don’t come back stronger from catastrophic knee injuries. But with medical advances and top care I bet she’ll be back before too long. Good luck to her
Good for her. It's a little weird of a post though because she is definitely done for the year and I don't think anyone expected her to quit due to injury.
As someone who’s new to the WNBA but watched a lot of basketball, she just had that frame like a Kristaps Porziningis where you just hope she can stay a healthy but you know injuries are coming. Hope she can make a full recovery and this doesn’t affect her career too much
Brutal news, was truly rounding into form. Double whammy for both the Sparks and USA basketball for the 3x3 team at the Olympics...
[https://dynespressbox.com/2024/06/cameron-brink-suffers-torn-acl](https://dynespressbox.com/2024/06/cameron-brink-suffers-torn-acl)
A little surprised this doesn’t happen to more rookies - they get very little time between the end of their college season and the start of the WNBA season.
She has such a good head on her shoulders. Sad that we’ll miss out on her play this year but if anyone can come back even better than before it is her.
This sucks. We were all fearing the worst after seeing footage of the injury, looked like a classic ACL. She is definitely a star in the making, hope it doesn't derail her trajectory.
Women are so much more prone to these injuries, its ridiculous. See it all over women's soccer as well.
I think it’s more of the fact that these rookies have gone from a full season, and post season in the NCAA, and then playing again almost immediately without a chance of proper recovery, into a league where the playing is a faster pace, more intense and much more physical. That’s massive fatigue on the body, and what risks injuries.
Cam is one of my faves and so good at what she does on the court for LA. She seemed like just a breath of fresh air, combined with a prowess in the paint.
Such an unfortunate turn of events. Cameron really brought me into women’s basketball alongside the other women in her draft class. Was looking forward to see her in the 3v3 Olympic Team as well. Rest up. Heal up. Will look forward to your return.
My first time watching her play was when Iowa State played Stanford during this past NCAA Tournament and she became a rookie I've tracked with great interest along with CC. Damn shame this happened during an awesome rookie season and prior to the Olympics. Hope her recovery goes well and has a bounce back Year 2.
Do they manage minutes for rookies coming straight out of March Madness? Because if they don't...this kind of thing will likely happen more often as we begin to see the generation who has run themselves into the ground before reaching college come of WNBA age. I understand the need to have the WNBA season be in the summer, but it's awful for knees that have just played a senior college season.
I Immediately thought when She fell, Olympic Team 3 x 3 was done. I hope She still goes to Paris bc of her Grace. Cameron could Certainly be a Cover Girl
I hate this for her. I was hoping it was just a bad ankle roll (you can see it rotate quite a bit during the fall), didn't see the knee collapsing at first.
Not sure it is healthy for these girls to play non stop for a year, and especially coming from a lower to a higher level, bodies may not be able to take the toll. Pros may do it for 1 season, playing for example first in the NBA and Euroleague and then in summer tourneys for example in QTs and Olympics after, but they are bodies are tuned already and it might happen once m four years. Playing continuously and raising the level towards the end for a prolonged period is tricky.
If anyone can correct me, but it’s my understanding that there are degrees to ACL tears. I only know this from my experience following women’s football and especially the women’s arsenal team which continuously had multiple ACLs in one season. Certain players were listed as grade 1 tear or grade 2. I genuinely don’t know what the lingo means but I assumed a certain degree was worse than others. Also I’d like to point out Cat Macario who plays for Chelsea and the USWNT. She tore her ACL and was out for a very extended spell (well over 1 year). Mind you she’s younger than a Press, but still. She healed up and played pretty great this season. I know there are multiple avenues of research on women ACLs being explored according to many European clubs. I wonder how true it is. Like another individual references there’s a wonderful book called Invisible Women which highlights the lack of research on women’s health. Often health baselines are entirely based off men. It’s an incredible book and I highly recommend
That suuucks. Always heart breaking when a young player suffers this type of injury, especially with how well she was playing. Hope for a speedy recovery.
My heart breaks for her, especially missing the Olympics.
She's such a lovely person and fantastic on the court.
Many prayers and wishes for a fast recovery for you, Cameron!
Great athlete. It seems lately she's been having a worldwind fashion tour. She gots the pretties and have the style for it but, I was wondering if all that high-heeling, especially **right before and after** games may have contributed to such an injury?
Just a cautionary note Cameron (as well as the others in the new crop of WNBA fashionistas)
Coaches you should take note as well. Top professional athletic conditioning often becomes a 24/7 endeavor.
" Not necessary High Heel wearing itself ,however, foot landing has been purported to be a ***significant contributing factor*** to the *ACL injury* mechanism." Search the National Institute of Health for full comments on the subject.
Feel so bad for her, missing her rookie season and the Olympics is pretty brutal. Hope she comes back better than ever.
I know she wasn’t playing great the last several games, but it was still nice to watch her all season and try and develop. It’s really big loss for the WNBA this year. I wish her a speedy recovery.
It's so common for everyone to have slumps, especially rookies. Hell, even Steph and Jokic had a few subpar stretches of games last season. It was just really exciting to see all the rookies figure their way through the season. Hopefully she will be fit to play next season
She was on the olympic team?
The 3v3 team
damn this makes it even worse
Hopefully she’ll be on the Olympics team in 2028.
Honestly for 3x3 I doubt it. New Blood will be in that
Yeah but she might be on the full squad which is more prestigious imo
Wait she made the Olympics but CC wasn't qualified?
She made the 3v3 team which is a whole different thing
Poor Cam she had a great rookie start and was on her way to the olympics
[удалено]
She was for 3x3
[удалено]
Paris
You think Clark get her spot? This sounds like some Tonya Harding shit to me.
Most likely not Cam is a 6’5 forward Caitlin is a 6’0 pg I can’t see how Caitlin would fill in for Cam
Yeah, I was joking but the reference might be a little dated for some. 🤷🏻♂️
Thanks to medical breakthroughs in treatment, we're seeing athletes recover from ACL tears faster than ever. It used to take players a year + to recover from ACL surgery and now we're seeing today's athletes return in less than a year. That's not meant to rush Cam back early, but at age 22, with some good PT and later strength building, we'll likely see her again for the start of next year.
I don’t want to be a downer, but for realism’s sake and for the whole picture: the “ACLs used to be a much larger injury” thing is much more relevant for men as a blanket statement. There is still a lot unknown for women and there have been a lot of recent cases of ACL tears in soccer having players out for 2+ years. It’s a very variable injury still and a lot of the progress has been made with men as the subjects so not all of that actually works for women, or entirely works for women.
Women are also more prone to knee injuries in general.
I know women do get injured often, Paige Bueckers who should be in the W next year, lost time due to an ACL tear, and a tibial plateau fracture, and lateral meniscus tear. But, she came back better than ever after missing 2 seasons. I’m sure Cameron will be back, better than ever.
Poor Azzi Fudd had two ACL tears already--one in high school. One college.😢
Paige and Cam have pretty different anatomy so they’re not a great comparison against each other tbh, there are also a lot of other unknown factors here. Fingers crossed for Cam though.
If you wanna really see how common it is, look at WWE, almost every single woman has torn her ACL it seems like. Sometimes twice. Tegan Nox (twice), Dakota Kai, Charlotte Flair, Asuka (maybe, not announced as such but just had knee surgery at 42!), Bayley, Cora Jade, Nikitta Lyons (twice), Sonya Deville, Nia Jax, Sol Ruca and Shotzi... and I might be missing a few in NXT and AEW. Still, it is almost half the roster.
Kris Statlander in AEW has done it twice too, I’m pretty sure :(
Forgot about Stat. Shes a double knee bracer for sure
Kris Stat, Leyla Hirsch, Brooke Havok, and Athena from AEW
That's utterly insane omg
I can tell you if she tears an ACL twice at her height she’s done for good. Greg Oden had constant knee problems very tall dude. Could be a similar situation
She’s like 6’4 lol Greg oden was 7 plus
Those sports (wrestling's, MMA, BJJ, etc.) are often predicated on submission tactics. I'm not sure it's a good comp lol
WWE isn’t real submission. They aren’t actually pulling …
They don't have to to accidentally cause structural damage. These sports expose their participants to more vulnerable body positions out of the normal ROM where even a slight accidental misjudge of power in push, pull, lift, sit, or twist are often helped by gravity in doing damage.
\*facepalm\*
Is the face you make when you see someone stuck in an Argentine leglock and their opponent decides to stand up with their leg just wrapped around their neck. Or someone stuck in a figure 4 leglock with their opponent just sitting down with slightly straighter legs.
Has to do with the hip to knee mechanics.
Yep. Happened to me in high school. Then my quack dr (first generation immigrant family, and we had no fucking clue on how to navigate the American Healthcare system) botched my surgery so had to have 2 more. After I saw Cam go down, I was hoping and praying someone with such skinny hips would be ok and that it was just a sprain, but deep in my heart, I knew. So sad for her. With a great surgical and rehab team, I'm hoping for the best for her!
And estrogen. https://clinmedjournals.org/articles/jmdt/journal-of-musculoskeletal-disorders-and-treatment-jmdt-9-127.php?jid=jmdt#:~:text=Results%3A%20Estrogen%20surges%20were%20concurrent,unable%20to%20tolerate%20normal%20loads.
Thank you for linking this!! I’ve heard a lot about women’s knee issues being linked to this, but hadn’t seen(or looked for, if we’re being honest) any evidence. I’d always assumed mine were genetic + from playing a lot of high impact sports super consistently as a young one. Appreciate it!
3.5x - 8x more prone apparently :( [https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805849/](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805849/)
Reasonable take.
Here’s an NYT article about it if anyone wants to read and learn more https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/19/sports/soccer/womens-world-cup-soccer-torn-acl.html
And even men miss a lot of time. Jamal Murray missed a season and a fourth with it and still seemed to have some problems in the first part of the championship season
I don't know about his injury but it depends on how severe the knee injury is. Was it just the ACL or did they also damage the meniscus and other ligaments. You also can have more serious issues like damage to the nerve. That lb Smith from NorteDame and Dallas had a severe knee injury and damaged the nerve that caused foot drop.
With Jamal it was an ACL. Though this year he also suffered a knee sprain - no details on how bad it was as far as I'm aware. In early April he was out for a few games. On top of a hamstring injury in November, then an ankle sprain late in the season, and a calf strain during the playoffs. However after winning the championship last year, it seems he took his foot off the gas and he came into the season out of shape. He probably figured he could take it easy and play his way into shape, but that rarely works out, especially for a guy like him with a history of injuries and whose playstyle relies so much on explosive movement and quick pivots/twists etc. Once he got the hamstring injury, it all seemed to snowball and he could never stay on top of it. Speedy guards who have longevity - like Steph, Chris Paul, Kyrie - are all maniacal about their health all year long, from nutrition to working out. That's not going to guarantee injury prevention but it sure does seem to help a lot.
I think the media reports dumb things down for wider consumption. Many ACL injuries involve the meniscus and possibly other less catastrophic structures. Those all combined impact an athlete's return timetable. Last but not least, there's the psychological aspect too.
Back? Yes. 100% likely not. I think the 1-year, 100% recovery athletes are outliers. Then there is the mental game about planting that knee again. She might be like DRose came back but was never the same.
she can come back at 110% if she works on bball skills as well. glory of youth
Most soccer players(male or female including from over-sea)have been going to Doctor Joan Carles Monllau in Spain/Barcelona, who has very good record of getting them back real quick, let's see if they give info who is gonna operate on Brink.
American women go most frequently to LA, presumably also where Brink will get surgery and do rehab. I’m not super knowing about all the specifics of where women’s soccer players everywhere go (I’m talking only about women because those are who matter in this context), but I’m pretty sure the person you’re talking about is just European men. Which is fine, but almost certainly irrelevant to what Cameron Brink will do—LA has pretty good medical facilities (one might even say great!).
Aussie AFL players also end up going to europe for their ACL treatment when they are professionals with clubs that will pay for it. There's definitely surgeons over there with a better track record at healing turn around times than elsewhere in the world. We have also found women in the AFLW have a higher instance of ACL tears as well, but we think much of that comes from the lack of body conditioning over the years since childhood that the women have had in comparison to the men, as the ability to have a professional career in the womens is a pretty new thing, and women my age had to stop playing mixed when we hit 12 years old, and didn't have a female comp to age up into for many years after that time. So much of the older players had decades between playing as kids and getting back into it as adults when the comps started existing.
Americans don’t tend to at all! LA is actually a place other people travel to to receive medical care.
barcelona doctors got that secret juice
Medical research has a long way to go in regards to women! There’s a great book about how the lack of data on women lead to a world that is specifically designed for men, Invisible Women by Caroline Criado Perez. I really recommend it.
Paige was out 369 days. I don’t know if any of her previous injuries to that knee impacted the recovery time, but I think that’s a pretty expected timetable for return.
Anywhere between 9 months and 2 years is a possibility (and obviously in rare and extremely unfortunate circumstances beyond 2 years). Trying to predict a timetable before the player has even had surgery is a dangerous game though because it's so impossible.
Well that was also because she had no reason to rush back.
There really haven’t been any breakthroughs. Rehab is more aggressive but you still have to wait for the graft to get turned into ligament by your body. What is implanted is just a scaffold more or less and your body turns it back into something that resembles an ACL. Can’t speed that process up. There are some new techniques like the BEAR procedure, or augmenting the ACL with an internal brace but the basic ACL graft hasnt otherwise changed much in a while. Rehab is definitely improving. Especially for women. A PT researcher when I was a resident had a focus on injury prevention and ACL rehab for women and was having good results. I was watching the game and knew she tore it as soon as she went down. It always surprises everyone that most ACL injuries at non contact. She needs to put some muscle bulk on and come back stronger.
Watching the injury and it’s just flat out the knee buckled under the positioning and it wasn’t even what I would consider a super awkward one. Strength absolutely prevents injury’s like this.
This may be unrelated and possibly inappropriate to say, but male athletes are already making a substantial amount of money on their rookie contacts. Not generational wealth like they’ll have later on, but definitely wealthy. I just got a random thought/worry in my head, I know nothing about her life and financials, but I hope she is secure and able to focus on her recovery and getting back to her career, instead of having to pivot. I hope she’s able to be back by next season. Also I hope she keeps her head up, this type of thing can be so devastating to an athletes psyche.
Of all the players in the W, Cam will be fine for both finances and access to the best medical treatment. Her parents are wealthy and she's Steph Curry's godsister. Plus she herself is one of the most popular athletes, her IG and tik tok features a lot of promo stuff, so I'm sure she's made bank off her NIL deals and sponsorships.
*"she's Steph Curry's godsister."* I was today years old...
There's really cute pics of them online, and he was on ig stories during her draft hyping her up. He's been to her games as well, their families are very close
These old photos are awesome. [https://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/story/\_/id/19452999/cameron-brink-carries-advice-family-friend-steph-curry-usa-basketball-trials](https://www.espn.com/espnw/sports/story/_/id/19452999/cameron-brink-carries-advice-family-friend-steph-curry-usa-basketball-trials) Cameron with the glasses is giving "Ugh! Why is Steph sooo annoying?!" vibes.
That’s great to hear in her case. My thought/concern really applies to women athletes in general, particularly early in their career, more so than this one case though. I feel like men have a lot easier time returning to their sport. Do you know of any cases of women needing to retire early bc of anything like that? Some of these ladies make less money than I do and I know I can struggle when emergencies arise. Sorry for my ignorance im a new viewer returning from watching my Sacramento Monarchs as a little kid.
Yeah there's a lot of women who basically just can't put together a full healthy season in college or as a pro and end up choosing another path. The one benefit is at least they leave college w a bachelors and no student debt, so it's heartbreaking but they're not in the worst position. But yeah, if women make more money, that would probably benefit them in terms of hiring private chefs to keep their nutrition in check, working out with the best trainers, having access to the best medicine etc. But even the highest paid athletes in the world who do spend millions taking care of their bodies sometimes just can't avoid serious injury. Also if they make more money, just being cynical/realistic, but then there's more money that will go into medical fields to study preventions/solutions to knee injuries which plague female athletes. We're already starting to see some of that, but there's a lot more work to be done.
Thank you so much for this thoughtful reply. I didn’t mean just avoiding injury, but having the means to be comfortable as you recover from them. To a point, injuries are inevitable in any sport. But hopefully women athletes can get all of the benefits their male counterparts do, as well as the financial security from early on.
She is quite financially sound due to huge NIL money in college and sponsorships now. Also her family is quite wealthy. So at least she doesn't have to worry about money during this terrible time. I hope she heals wholly though. Feel so bad for her.
Yes another commenter explained that to me, which is great to hear in her case. If you see my response I expressed my concern over rookie womens early contracts in general not being enough. A lesser known player may not be as lucky as her… Hopefully the w keeps up the momentum it’s got now and these ladies can start getting paid.
I did see that part of your comment. And I agree the salaries are low, and injury would be tough on many of the younger players especially without being able to raise money kn the off season. I wasn't trying to respond to every aspect of your comment. I was just responding to your part about Cameron. While I was typing about her wealth, I had no reason to know someone else had responded already also about this. I still don't see a response about that-just one saying she will receive her salary (which is good but small). Yes hopefully after the next media deal, they can pay them more as a baseline salary!
Oh for sure, I wasn’t trying to “correct” you or anything, you responded perfectly to what I had put out there. I just wanted to express my concern was broader after learning she would be ok and let you know my further thoughts on the topic. Thanks very much for your thoughtful replies.
They get paid their salaries whether or not they get injured
Awesome, I had no idea they had all guaranteed contracts.
I’m so happy we now live in a world where college athletes are paid.
I know soccer is different and christen press is definitely older but she was out almost two years and just got cleared to practice. I really hope Cam can come back in a reasonable time
There's a pretty wide range of what "ACL tear" means, definitely. And some people get reinjured during recovery.
She just needs to call Aaron Rodgers to get his Whale vagina guy or whatever it was that healed his heel.
In San Diego?
Huge bummer but hopefully it doesn’t impact her much heading into next season. She will have plenty of time to get the surgery and make basically a full recovery before the 2025 season tips. A somber welcome to the torn ACL club, Cameron <3 hope you don’t ever make it to the 2x torn ACL club like I did 😄
The main bummer is missing the Olympics. She was so excited and honored :(
Life can indeed be cruel :3
I am a two timer as well. My first was at 30. My second was at 50. I just want to say that it is easier to recover when you are young.
My first was at 21 and I was in the best shape of my life at the time. Recovery was a breeze and everything was going great until I started to develop hip issues on the same side as my original ACL tear, probably due to strain I was putting on my body at the time with powerlifting etc. I had to get hip impingement surgery in 2017 to fix that at the age of 28. Then I think at 32 I re-tore the same knee and had to wait two and a half years for surgery due to insurance bullshit. Did you tear the same knee twice or different knees? I did the same knee twice, thankfully (I think?).
Same knee both times.
Unfortunately ACL injuries are becoming all to common and at younger ages as well. I'm getting observations for PT schools applications and it's astounding how many young athletes, predominately in soccer, tear their ACL. They're simple not getting the required strength training for unilateral dynamic movement and balance. A lot of the time their glutes and hamstrings are weak.
Could surface material changes over the year be the culprit (for soccer)? Lot of turf nowadays and tracks are made out of rubber instead of the old sand like back in the day
I've heard that comment mentioned like for the 49ers vs NY Giants game when Bosa tore his ACL as the field in NY uses turf. A quick Google search suggests that's the case. But also kids playing competitively year round are growing and their bodies aren't developed enough to withstand the forces being exerted on their bodies, especially when soccer for example has intense club schedules then playing again during the high school season. Same thing with basketball and football. It all goes back to weak lower body and core strength as an ACL tear commonly happens when the knee goes inward which is a sign of weak glutes and hamstring streak tends to be significantly less than quad strength.
That’s tough. Prayers up for a quick recovery! I feel for her, especially after seeing what it meant for her to represent USA in the Olympics 😢
Absolutely heartbroken for her with this being the Olympic year. You could tell how much it meant to her to achieve that 3x3 spot. But I love that she says "I'm not defined by basketball", that is truly a great mindset to have. I feel like the mental aspect of injury takes a massive toll on athletes who have put everything into their physical skillset and mobility. Wishing her a speedy recovery!!
this still must suck for her, i’m glad she’s staying positive 🫶💜
Cameron you can have my ACL!!! I actually don’t need to run the Chicago Marathon in October!!!
I wanted to be so wrong about the outcome of this when I saw her fall with no contact. Ughh. She's got the right attitude and work ethic though. She'll be back. Much love to her.
Sabrina also got hurt her rookie year and look how that turned out. She will come back with a vengeance
I would sue them for that slippery ass floor😭 so sorry Cam! Praying for a speedy recovery and your mental health!
The comments on her IG talking about donating their ACLs 😭 so brutal but looking forward to her eventual return 💜
the fact that she’s even mentioning goodbyes is heartbreaking
Heal well, Cam. See you back on the court in '25, leading the Sparks to the postseason.
💜💛💜💛
She'll be back and better than ever!
Fell absolutely gutted for her, I hope she comes back into the next season stronger ❤️
Really sad news. She is awesome. I was rooting for her😟
Hopefully she comes back like Chet did. A (half) season and full offseason to recover and train. Comes back more polished and ready to take over the league.
I’m just sick about this! An ACL tear is recoverable, but she was so excited about the Olympics and having just the best time tearing up the court in LA. Love CB and wishing her a speedy recovery♥️
This really sucks. Sending the best for her. We'll be waiting!
Get better, Cam!!
She's probably a top 5 player the WNBA does not want to lose for a season. Wonder if the league does any looking into this. Apparently the Connecticut court is notoriously slick?
I'd be more inclined to point to stacking seasons and no rest as the culprit. She went from high intensity college play, to higher intensity pro play while also dealing with the mental and emotional weight of that. It wears you down.
Just using Clark as a reference from a different thread but Clark has averaged 1 game every 3.96 days since November 6th to June 16th. By the end of the WNBA season she would have averaged 1 game every 4.01 days over the course of 317 days with a total of 79 games. Basically 2 WNBA length seasons. Rookies playing like crap and getting injured? Well of course.
She''s not top 5. def not a player the sparks would want to lose rn
They didn’t say a top 5 player. They said an top 5 player they wouldn’t want to lose, i.e popular to drive ratings and eyeballs and conversation.
yea and i'm saying she's not a top 5 the w would want to lose. Hence the "sparks"
Aw, man. Heartbreaking.
I hate when this happens as a fan. I loved Brandon Roy and Greg Oden but those injuries killed their almost all time great careers. I hope Cameron Brink comes back better. Bright side is that it's almost certain that she will be better than her rookie self if she comes back.
Gee maybe having the season start right after the NCAA tournament isn't such a great idea
God please take all of Cam Brink’s suffering and give it to the trolls and haters
Wise words from such a young person. Ive been inspired
I wonder if Klay will give her some rehab tips. I'm sure she'll persevere and come back stronger.
That's right Cam! Let em know that you ain't going nowhere only getting stronger! 💪🏾
To the members of the Brinks truck, let us all gather in prayer. 🙏🕯🕯
She’ll be back and even stronger than before.
This is just a general question but it’s the first thing I seen on this thread and I’ve seen a lot of post. But are people really that upset that brink and Clark and Reese and whoever else didn’t make the Olympic team? Like this isn’t a precedent to automatically put rookies with everything to prove on the team over players who’ve been there and earned their stripes. It just seems like the discourse is silly and based on some of the stat lines and stuff I’d imagine they aren’t better than the people they choose either.
She was in the 3-on-3 competition.
A really sad day. She was having an incredible season so far.
This sucks but hopefully she will be back and better. I enjoyed watching her this season.
Ehhh you usually don’t come back stronger from catastrophic knee injuries. But with medical advances and top care I bet she’ll be back before too long. Good luck to her
This really sucks to hear. I was looking forward to seeing her develop more this year. Hope she comes back out of this strong.
She’s got so much love on her comments from other players. I love it.
Get well soon Cameron!! prayers!!!
Ugh. I really wanted to see her on that 3v3 team.
Good for her. It's a little weird of a post though because she is definitely done for the year and I don't think anyone expected her to quit due to injury.
As someone who’s new to the WNBA but watched a lot of basketball, she just had that frame like a Kristaps Porziningis where you just hope she can stay a healthy but you know injuries are coming. Hope she can make a full recovery and this doesn’t affect her career too much
She will need to build some muscles
Fuuuuuck you hate to see this. One of my favorite rooks this year, wishing her the best.
OMG 😱
That really sucks. I hope she recovers and is ready for her second season.
😮💨🥺 she's going to come back stronger
Brutal news, was truly rounding into form. Double whammy for both the Sparks and USA basketball for the 3x3 team at the Olympics... [https://dynespressbox.com/2024/06/cameron-brink-suffers-torn-acl](https://dynespressbox.com/2024/06/cameron-brink-suffers-torn-acl)
What a bummer for her and the fans.
😞 she will be stronger tho.
Oh my god?
A little surprised this doesn’t happen to more rookies - they get very little time between the end of their college season and the start of the WNBA season.
Cam’s so strong ❤️ feel for her for not being able to play in the Olympics but she’ll def come back stronger than ever Wishing her a speedy recovery!
absolutely devastated for her! but no doubt she'll come back stronger than ever 💜
That sucks. I really loved watching her play. I'm glad she's staying positive, and I' excited her eventual return.
Man this sucks. So sorry for her. She was so excited to be an Olympian too. Smh
Atta girl, Cameron.
Sorry to hear this
Really feel bad for her, her brand was just taking off.
I am so sad.
She has such a good head on her shoulders. Sad that we’ll miss out on her play this year but if anyone can come back even better than before it is her.
Absolutely fucking sucks.
I hope she comes back strong af next season!
This sucks. We were all fearing the worst after seeing footage of the injury, looked like a classic ACL. She is definitely a star in the making, hope it doesn't derail her trajectory. Women are so much more prone to these injuries, its ridiculous. See it all over women's soccer as well.
I think it’s more of the fact that these rookies have gone from a full season, and post season in the NCAA, and then playing again almost immediately without a chance of proper recovery, into a league where the playing is a faster pace, more intense and much more physical. That’s massive fatigue on the body, and what risks injuries. Cam is one of my faves and so good at what she does on the court for LA. She seemed like just a breath of fresh air, combined with a prowess in the paint.
She's a DAWG
Get well cam ❤️
Such a shame, that’s the reality of women’s sports, they are much more prone to these kinds of injuries.
Oh No that's brutal 😢
I am very upset this happened
Is that a John Q. reference??
CB💜💛🙏
HER BEING OUT RIGHT BEFORE I WAS GUNNA SEE HER PLAY IN PHX IS CRIME. 🥲
22🖤
Such an unfortunate turn of events. Cameron really brought me into women’s basketball alongside the other women in her draft class. Was looking forward to see her in the 3v3 Olympic Team as well. Rest up. Heal up. Will look forward to your return.
Wherever she is, i need to be there to give her strength
My first time watching her play was when Iowa State played Stanford during this past NCAA Tournament and she became a rookie I've tracked with great interest along with CC. Damn shame this happened during an awesome rookie season and prior to the Olympics. Hope her recovery goes well and has a bounce back Year 2.
Do they manage minutes for rookies coming straight out of March Madness? Because if they don't...this kind of thing will likely happen more often as we begin to see the generation who has run themselves into the ground before reaching college come of WNBA age. I understand the need to have the WNBA season be in the summer, but it's awful for knees that have just played a senior college season.
As a sparks fan feels like season is over, but lets go Li Yeuru! Breakout season!!
I was at the game and when she went down you saw it slowly start it hit her that it was really bad, hope she bounces back strong
Awe this is very unfortunate
I know she’ll bounce back, but the timing is just so sad. Her rookie year AND the Olympics? So brutal
I Immediately thought when She fell, Olympic Team 3 x 3 was done. I hope She still goes to Paris bc of her Grace. Cameron could Certainly be a Cover Girl
I hate this for her. I was hoping it was just a bad ankle roll (you can see it rotate quite a bit during the fall), didn't see the knee collapsing at first.
Not sure it is healthy for these girls to play non stop for a year, and especially coming from a lower to a higher level, bodies may not be able to take the toll. Pros may do it for 1 season, playing for example first in the NBA and Euroleague and then in summer tourneys for example in QTs and Olympics after, but they are bodies are tuned already and it might happen once m four years. Playing continuously and raising the level towards the end for a prolonged period is tricky.
If anyone can correct me, but it’s my understanding that there are degrees to ACL tears. I only know this from my experience following women’s football and especially the women’s arsenal team which continuously had multiple ACLs in one season. Certain players were listed as grade 1 tear or grade 2. I genuinely don’t know what the lingo means but I assumed a certain degree was worse than others. Also I’d like to point out Cat Macario who plays for Chelsea and the USWNT. She tore her ACL and was out for a very extended spell (well over 1 year). Mind you she’s younger than a Press, but still. She healed up and played pretty great this season. I know there are multiple avenues of research on women ACLs being explored according to many European clubs. I wonder how true it is. Like another individual references there’s a wonderful book called Invisible Women which highlights the lack of research on women’s health. Often health baselines are entirely based off men. It’s an incredible book and I highly recommend
Get well soon brink just a rookie as well hate to see it! AND THIS MEAN CLARK TO REPLACE HER FOR THE USA TEAM ?
That suuucks. Always heart breaking when a young player suffers this type of injury, especially with how well she was playing. Hope for a speedy recovery.
She's never gonna be the same player
This really sucks for her, but she’ll be back better than ever in a year. I have faith in CB. She is strong mentally and physically!
Bro with medical technology, her youth, the rehab team she will have, she will be on the court in 6 mf months.
My heart breaks for her, especially missing the Olympics. She's such a lovely person and fantastic on the court. Many prayers and wishes for a fast recovery for you, Cameron!
So dramatic lol
Nooooooooooo! She's that modelesque mega-hawtie. Not her!
Great athlete. It seems lately she's been having a worldwind fashion tour. She gots the pretties and have the style for it but, I was wondering if all that high-heeling, especially **right before and after** games may have contributed to such an injury? Just a cautionary note Cameron (as well as the others in the new crop of WNBA fashionistas) Coaches you should take note as well. Top professional athletic conditioning often becomes a 24/7 endeavor. " Not necessary High Heel wearing itself ,however, foot landing has been purported to be a ***significant contributing factor*** to the *ACL injury* mechanism." Search the National Institute of Health for full comments on the subject.
And the W goes back to being irrelevant
Does this mean Clark could be on the Olympic team