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PORTLAND, Ore. — Shaun Livingston made his return to the Nets starting lineup in Wednesday night’s 124-80 blowout loss to the Trail Blazers after missing his first game of the season Sunday against the Lakers because of a bruised tailbone.
But Wednesday night also marked exactly seven years since The Injury for Livingston — the horrific left knee injury he suffered while playing for the Clippers that many felt spelled the end of what looked like a promising NBA career.
“Seven years,” he said before the Nets’ shootaround, shaking his head.
“I try not to [think about it]. It’ll cross my mind at times, but I try not to think about it.”
It would be impossible for anyone in Livingston’s position to completely put out of his mind what happened in that game against the Bobcats. After going up for a layup, Livingston landed awkwardly on his left leg, which snapped sideways and subsequently destroyed his knee.
The list of things that happened to the knee on the play — dislocating his kneecap, tearing his ACL, PCL and lateral meniscus, spraining his MCL and dislocating his patella and tibia-femoral joint — is jaw-dropping, and it’s almost impossible to believe all of those things could happen on one play.
Livingston, who did not score in 12 minutes, said he never plans to watch the video of the injury.
“Mentally, I tried to clear those thoughts from my head,” he said. “You don’t want to go back and relive that moment. That’s how I always thought about it, moving on from it.
“Obviously it happened, it’s part of my journey, it’s part of my career, and it can’t be erased. But moving forward, I don’t want it to be part of my mindset.”
Livingston was just 21 at the time of the injury, in his third season in the league after being taken fourth overall by the Clippers in 2004, and it took him several years to get himself reestablished in the league.
After sitting out the 2007-08 season rehabbing his knee, Livingston returned to the NBA the following season with the Heat, and then bounced among six different NBA teams — including two separate stops with the Wizards.
As Livingston found himself bouncing from team-to-team, getting traded and waived multiple times, as well as playing a short stint in the NBA’s Development League, he wondered if he would become a fixture in the league again.
“I think early on, especially, you’re bouncing around, being waived, you’re on 10-day contracts. … That’s all kind of [for] fringe players,” he said. “Especially being [with the Clippers], I never thought of myself as being a fringe player, but it was all predicated on health, being healthy and being productive.
“My production level obviously dipped because of my health. But as I started to play more and more, I gained confidence in my body, and then from there it was just about being in a good situation for me, as far as my game is concerned.”
It turned out signing with the Nets last summer — one of the least heralded of the many headline-grabbing moves the team made during its expensive shopping spree — landed Livingston in the perfect situation.
Livingston has shown the kind of explosion he had before the injury, throwing down an impressive dunk nearly once a game. He also has turned into one of the Nets’ defensive stoppers, often being thrown on whoever the top perimeter player is for the opposition and using his length to give him trouble.
Most importantly for Livingston, who is averaging 7.7 points, 3.2 rebounds and 3.1 assists, he has been healthy, and a player Nets coach Jason Kidd has come to rely on heavily as the season has progressed.
“We’ve been spoiled,” Kidd said. “He’s one of the few that hasn’t been hurt. We’ve relied on him to kind of be our anchor, but [him being out] gave guys an opportunity to play, and now to have him back helps.”
After his strong play, Livingston appears to have positioned himself for a multi-year, multi-million dollar contract this summer, in what would be the final step back in what has been a remarkable recovery.
But having never played in the playoffs, Livingston said there’s plenty of work to do before worrying about where free agency will take him.
“It’s looming, but there’s still the second half of the season and there’s the playoffs,” he said. “That’s really the good mind-set for me to have right now, that’s what I’m trying to focus on.I know I’m going to be a free agent, of course in the back of my head. But right now at the forefront is there’s still a lot of work that can be put in that can help that situation.”
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