The Nets have as their foot and ankle specialist one of the top orthopedic surgeons in the world of sports in Dr. Martin O’Malley, but they have to hope they won’t ever need his services in the case of Egor Demin’s plantar fascia. So far so good. Despite the team’s decision to shut down the (barely) 20-year-old for the season, Jordi Fernandez told reporters two days ago that Demin’s treatment will be non-surgical.
“Yeah, first of all, always he’s been a kid that wants to play, wants to be out there,
wants to develop; and nothing better than playing real games to get better, right, at this level,” said Fernandez. “Obviously when you have discomfort and it doesn’t allow you to play at that level, we had to find solutions.
“And like we said, we were trying to find the best way. And at the end of the day, the good thing is it’s non-surgical procedure, which is good. And see what the timetable is. But obviously the summer and getting him to work and get better throughout the process and having a summer is important. So, the fact that he’s not going to be able to play these 20-some games, it’s not the best, because he wants to and we value real reps. But, also, his health is the No. 1 priority. And we’re very, very optimistic and positive about it.”
This of course is a recurrence of an issue Demin had last summer. After a successful Summer League in Las Vegas — one in which he first put concerns about his shooting to rest, Demin wound up spending most of July, August and September undergoing treatment.
The Nets didn’t reveal the issue until Media Day in late September and he didn’t get on the court till the Nets traveled to China early the next month. Demin told Sarah Kustok that early in his treatment he had been confined to a wheel chair. Until recently, things appeared to be going well, with limited absences attributed to rest. Then he began to experience “discomfort” which showed on the court. So a decision made to shut him down for the final 20 games. Discretion is easily the best part of valor when the organization’s state policy is to get as high a pick as possible.
Brian Lewis got an independent and generally optimistic take from a top orthopedist this week on Demin’s recovery prospects. Dr. Andrew Brief of the Ridgewood Orthopedic Group — a board-certified orthopedic surgeon who hasn’t treated Dëmin but like O’Malley specializes in foot surgeries.
“The take-home point is for a jumping athlete like a basketball player, it can be a significantly painful and sometimes debilitating condition,” said Brief.
“I would say that the organization has reason to be optimistic that because he’s young and healthy, plantar fasciitis is usually a diagnosis that will ultimately resolve itself, and won’t be chronic. However, it seems as though he’s had recurrence in the past, so they’re going to have to consider other options if he doesn’t get better, after being shut down.”
Brief described what the Nets medical staff might be considering in treating the Russian guard who they took with the eighth pick in the 2025 Draft, their first lottery pick in 15 years.
“When treating plantar fasciitis, you really want to throw every single nonsurgical option at them before surgery is even a remote consideration, because most people get better without surgery,” Dr. Brief said. “Besides immobilization, oral medication, physical therapy, acupuncture, braces, orthotics, etc., usually procedural-based treatment for plantar fasciitis involves injections.
“Cortisone is typically the first line of injection treatment, but sometimes people utilize alternative type of injections like platelets [PRP] or stem cells or amniotic tissue injections; that could be what they’re referring to with procedure-based treatment. PRP most likely is in the treatment algorithm if someone hasn’t responded to everything else.”
Brief emphasized how the pain associated with a case of plantar fascia can cause problems for a professional athlete facing a grueling schedule.
“An athlete’s ability to play with plantar fasciitis is mediated by pain, so the more activity, the more they are likely to experience discomfort,” Dr. Brief said. “Therefore, being in a situation where you need to make an explosive play or jump, you’d be limited because of how much pain that you are in. So, it certainly could affect performance, if you’ve had long-standing plantar fasciitis.”
Indeed, Lewis noted how Demin’s performance had dropped off in the games leading up to the decision to shut him down. He had averaged only six points on 31.4% shooting in his last six games before being shelved, just 6-of-24 from deep. Many fans had speculated that after playing 50 games, he had hit the rookie wall. Instead, he was just hurting.
“He might just have a high pain tolerance. But it seems like an opportune moment for the Brooklyn Nets to shut him down now, given the fact that he’s having symptoms, and he’s had recurrence,” Dr. Brief told The Post. “It’s probably affecting his play, and the team is not in the situation right now where they’re playing for a playoff spot.”
