Glen ‘Big Baby’ Davis Says Surgically-Repaired Foot Will Never Be the Same

Orlando Magic big man Glen Davis is slowly recovering from two foot surgeries in a six-month span. Davis admits to the Orlando Sentinel that he’s worried about his basketball future: “He had an operation in February and then another in July to replace a screw. ‘You have a sense of the end,’ he said. Next to a shattered knee, broken bones in the feet are a basketball player’s worst nightmare. From Bill Walton to Zydrunas Ilgauskas, careers can be altered. Davis, 27, is recovering slowly and could be back to practice in a few weeks. But then comes the great unknown when he takes those thunderous steps, always worrisome for a man of his size. ‘Will it hold up?’ he said. Privately, Davis is angry and upset. He felt the first surgery didn’t address the problem correctly and the setback cost him time. ‘It will never be the same,’ he said glumly, glancing down at his foot. Davis will test the second surgeon’s handiwork, along with the new screw and additional bone graft that was inserted. At 6 feet 9, he currently weighs around 300 pounds, but figures he needs to diet like a mad man to decrease the stress on his feet. He talks about losing 20 pounds, but laughs that he hasn’t weighed 280 ‘since I was in sixth grade.’ Then he turns serious. ‘I have to play as light as possible if it helps,’ he said. He said the injury will make him play differently, but he isn’t exactly sure how. […] Davis appeared in just 34 games last season. He hasn’t played since breaking the foot on Jan. 30, 2013, when the Magic visited the Knicks in New York. ‘I think there’s been one month when I wasn’t in a (orthopedic walking) boot,’ he said. “I’ve been locked up. This is one of the most difficult things probably I’ve ever had to do. It’s frustrating.’ Davis might be delusional, but he believes the Magic can be a playoff team with him in the lineup. He was enjoying a career year last season and the club was 12-13 before he sustained a shoulder injury. Big Baby admits that his comeback is as much a mental battle as a physical one.”