INGLEWOOD — Clippers guard Bradley Beal faced the media for the first time in nearly a year and spoke of fear.
Read more Chargers vs. Seattle Seahawks: Who has the edge?
The fear of whether he will fully recover from left hip surgery. The fear that he might not return to being the player he was before fracturing his joint in a freak accident in the sixth game of last season. The fear that his career was over.
Beal said he was “100% scared” the first time he attempted a layup.
“I was very nervous, very not trusting of myself,” Beal said of the first time he tried to jump post-surgery. “I literally had to learn to walk all over again, run all over again, how to put pressure back on this side comfortably, like you said, with confidence and being able to jump, land with confidence.”
For months, Beal said he couldn’t successfully put on underwear without his wife’s help. So, understandably, he was anxious when he first stepped on the court after missing a year of practice and games.
The confidence was slow to return but now Beal can not only stand without a cane, he can run and jump without pain. He could see significant minutes off the bench this season, though he will not play in Sunday’s preseason opener against the Golden State Warriors in Honolulu.
His return has been slowed by recent inflammation in his right knee, but he is eager to show off the shooting and ball-handling skills that have helped him earn three All-Star nods over his 14 NBA seasons.
“As a human, you’re going to feel those things from the mental aspect of it, but when you actually complete it and nothing happens, you’re like, ‘Oh, okay. I’m all right here,’” Beal said.
“So, I’m fortunate that it was just a bone and a fracture, that it wasn’t any ligaments, wasn’t any tendons or anything like that.”
Beal also was grateful that he didn’t need a total hip replacement like his father.
Read more Rams at Philadelphia Eagles: Who has the edge?
“That’s not fun. So, I’m like I can’t be like my dad moving around with a hip replacement and at the airport thing going off every time,” he said, limping around like his father.
Beal, 33, is no stranger to injuries. He has endured sprained ankles and stress reactions in his legs, a non-displaced fracture of the scaphoid bone in his left wrist, injuries to his neck, pelvis and elbows. Name a body part and Beal has hurt it.
But he said the fractured hip changed him, humbled him in a way no previous injury ever had.
“It made me appreciate life, what we have, being able to utilize the limbs and body parts that we have,” Beal said. “… I don’t wish that injury on anybody. It was definitely a crazy journey.”
The Clippers believe in his rehabilitation and ability to still handle occasional point guard duties. Coach Tyronn Lue said he has seen video of him dunking, reconfirming the team’s decision to sign Beal to a two-year, $13.2 million deal in the offseason with a player option for the second year.
“I have no doubts at all,” Beal said. “I can still do my step-backs. I can dunk a basketball. I didn’t think I was going to be able to do that, so to be able to do that and do it explosively and do it almost a little bit better than what I did again when I came last year, I feel unbelievably more confident in that.”
The organization even returned his No. 3 jersey, the one he gave up last season when former Clippers star Chris Paul rejoined the team for an abbreviated reunion.
“I’m just happy to be in my number and just kind of get a clean start,” Beal said.
Read more USC football missing 2 top offensive players against Washington