Skal Labissiere had to relearn to walk before making the NBA
Skal Labissiere has been through a lot already in his life. Growing up in Haiti meant dealing with random blackouts throughout his childhood. Then came the earthquake that devastated the country and was the deciding factor in Labissiere heading to the United State for high school basketball which brought about its own set of challenges. Now just a few days before he will undoubtedly be picked in the 2016 NBA Draft, Labissiere shared the story of his childhood and the earthquake with the Players Tribune.
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The entire piece is well worth your time and makes it super easy to root for Labissiere, who went through incredible circumstances to make it, no matter how he turns out as an NBA player. The fact that he is even at this point after having to relearn how to walk is amazing. Yes, you read that right, he had to relearn how to walk.
"My mom massaged my legs every day to help revive the nerves. As they started coming back, she’d stand me up in the classroom where we were staying and we’d slowly train my legs to walk again. She did the same with my brother, who had the same kinds of problems with his legs, which had been trapped under that computer desk.It was about two weeks before I was able to walk again, and another few weeks after that until I could walk without limping."
Labissiere has a lot to work on to become a legitimate NBA role player but after reading this story it is hard to see how he doesn’t figure out enough to be a good one. At the very least it became impossible for people to not root for him. After all he has been through Skal deserves any and all success he will have.