Out for the season, and currently lying in a hospital bed, most players would be bitterly glum – yet for Brooklyn Nets’ Mirza Teletovic – he is still thankful.
The Bosnian international experienced breathing problems during Thursday night’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers and was initially informed to head back to the hotel and get some rest.
Nets trainer Tim Walsh saw Teletovic and studied his mannerisms before concluding that it was something more than just fatigue.
From there, CT scans revealed that Teletovic had a condition known as bilateral pulmonary embolus, which are multiple blood clots in the lungs. The news hit the Brooklyn Nets staff who placed the 29-year-old on the injury board indefinitely.
If the original plan of a good night’s sleep had been followed through, and Teletovic travelled back to New York with the team, then the consequences could have been fatally severe.
“It’s shocking for a guy to have an issue like that, but the good thing is that Tim went with him, Tim made him do a CT scan and they found out about it because he could’ve died on the plane, he could’ve actually died,” said Brooklyn head coach Lionel Hollins. “So, it’s all good in that respect, but it is devastating for him and his family.”
It’s at time like this, where basketball takes a back seat. It’s an important part of a player’s life, as well as for coaches, staff and fans alike; but at times like this, there is a bigger picture, there are things more important than basketball.
I’m going to miss him a lot because he’s from my country, he speaks my language, we’re close friends,” said team-mate Bojan Bogdanovic, who, like Teletovic, was born in Mostar. “It’s too early to talk about that but I hope he’ll be ready for next season.”
Bogdanovic also revealed that Teletovic had been complaining of a difficulty to breath for a week or so before the game against the Clippers.
“We don’t look at the members of our team only as players, but mainly as family members,” commented the Secretary General of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Basketball Federation (KSBiH), Harun Mahmutovic.
“At the moment I am not interested neither in the results nor the medals that Mirza has.
“He’s above all a good person, our captain, we should be optimistic. Now it is the doctors who decide what and how will be done, the doctors will decide what is best for him,” Mahmutovic concluded.
Grateful for the support given by his team-mates both at Brooklyn and with Bosnia and Herzegovina, the one person that Teletovic is perhaps most thankful for, while he remains in a Los Angeles medical facility was the cautious approach of Tim Walsh.
