Tari Eason Apologizes to Opponent After Causing ACL Injury

Newly acquired Utah Jazz guard Vince Williams Jr. suffered an unfortunate-looking leg injury on Monday night. In the second quarter of the Utah Jazz vs. Houston Rockets game, Williams was running down the floor alongside Tari Eason. Eason gave Williams a shove, which caused Williams to land awkwardly on his leg. He was helped off the court, unable to put weight on his leg. 

Sources are saying that Williams suffered a “significant ACL injury,” but the official prognosis hasn’t been announced yet. 

Many people online are calling the play where Williams went down “dirty”. Eason wasn’t necessarily making a play on the ball, but shoves like this happen all game. It was unlucky how Williams landed, but putting the blame on Eason isn’t necessarily just. 

Eason went to the Jazz locker room after the game to check on Williams. When he was asked why he did that, this was his response. 

“I‘ve known Vince for a little bit and he’s just a really good dude, hard working dude. It was just respect. I’ve got a lot of respect for him, and I know it’s his contract year ... I didn’t intend on doing anything. My intentions are always just to play hard. So I went to go holler and just check on him. Obviously nothing helps, but just tell him that I apologize. You know, nobody’s trying to hurt anybody.”

Accidents happen on the basketball court all the time. The Rockets play a very physical brand of basketball, and when you play that way, people are bound to get a little hurt. Still, the fact that Eason went to check on Williams after the game shows a respect and class that you want from your competition. Now we just need to pray that Williams injury isn’t as bad as it looked…