Former Raptors center Christian Koloko has a blood clot issue that is threatening his basketball career, Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets.
According to Charania, the NBA told teams today that Koloko was referred to the NBA’s Fitness-to-Play Panel, which means he is unable to play or practice in the league until he is cleared.
Koloko was waived by the Raptors yesterday following the Pascal Siakam trade and Charania says there is no shortage of teams who were interested in acquiring him before learning of this development.
The NBA’s Fitness-to-Play panel helps deal with and determine options for players with potentially life-threatening injuries or conditions.
Koloko had a promising rookie season in 2022/23 after being selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2022 draft. Raptors general manager Masai Ujiri spoke highly of Koloko on Thursday and said he saw the former Arizona center as part of Toronto’s future.
Recurring issues with blood clots forced former NBA players like Chris Bosh and Mirza Teletovic into early retirement in the past. Other players – including Pelicans forward Brandon Ingram – have been able to resume their careers following a single occurrence of a blood clot.
Our best wishes go out to Koloko and we hope he is able to enjoy a happy, healthy and fulfilling life and career.
Prayers up…
hope chris bosh gets in touch with him
And let’s him know how the process works selectively in determining who has their career ended by collusion and misinformation. Chris Bosh was screwed put of the end his career deserved, by false equivalencies, and incorrect information being spewed. Other players in other leagues have had the same, and their careers continued
Hopefully, Koloko doesn’t have the gene where he may be susceptible to clotting, as Bosh also didn’t, and can therefore be put on a proper program to manage it
What evidence was there for collusion and misinformation in Bosh’s case?
Some people think the weather is a conspiracy….
Heh.
The fact Bosh himself has said over and over he should have been cleared
Wow bummer hope he can make it through this. These guys work so hard…to get derailed by something you can’t even train for really sucks.
Get the help you need. Basketball will always be there. Prayers ….
Man, i see him can be a decent backup center.still very raw but has a good future.
As a guy who has been using Xarelto (the blood thinner Bosh was using and did commercials for), I can tell you that one of the biggest concerns is internal bleeding after taking a blow to most any part of the body. Every case is different I’m sure, but I’ve had to rein in any sort of physical activity that puts me at risk of that. I really felt bad for Bosh when this happened to him, but with me not having information on what his risk factors are/were, it was likely the best thing that could have been done for his safety long-term. Hopefully Koloko’s outcome will be better!
Life is better than playing ball.
Hope you are better …..