Hawks’ Daniel Grida suffers season ending knee injury

Scans have confirmed Hawks wing Daniel Grida has ruptured the ACL in his right knee.  

The injury occurred during a Hawks pre-season training session 10 days ago and is the second major setback for the 23-year-old in as many years after rupturing the same ACL in March of 2020.  

“I was driving to the basket like I’ve done a thousand times since my return from the last surgery and my leg just twisted the wrong way. I kind of knew it wasn’t good, but you always hope for the best and unfortunately for me scans have confirmed another ACL tear,” Daniel Grida said. 

“There’s no hiding the fact I’m extremely disappointment and it sucks I won’t be able to take the court with my teammates this season. I guess understanding the recovery process could make my rehab a little bit easier, and the surgeon is confident so I’m really happy with the plan,” Grida said. 

The young West Australian looked likely to miss the entire 2020-21 NBL season, but due to a COVID enforced delay, he made a successful return to the court for the Hawks in April, playing valuable minutes off the bench as the club qualified for the semi-finals.

 “This is terrible news for Dan and a tragedy that it comes so soon after recovering from a previous surgery on the same knee,” Illawarra Hawks President and Co-Owner, Dorry Kordahi, said. 

“As is always the case with a long-term injury like this, we will ensure Dan has everything he needs in terms of support and care as he begins the road back to the court. We are fortunate to have the services of some of the best medical and sports science professionals in the country that will ensure Dan’s rehabilitation is as straight forward as possible,” Kordahi said. 

“Just really sad news for him. Dan is a wonderful teammate and a fantastic ambassador for basketball in this region and I know the playing group and the entire Illawarra region will be feeling for him at the moment,” Illawarra Hawks Head Coach, Brian Goorjian, said. 

“He’s still a young guy with a lot of basketball ahead of him so we will do our best to support him through this initial period, and then ensure he has the best possible environment around him to make a successful return to the court in due time. He’s diligent and enthusiastic and I’m confident he will attack his rehab with that exact attitude,” Goorjian said. 

The club will now investigate a possible replacement for Grida with the 2021-22 NBL season due to commence in the next few months. 

Grida averaged 3.3 ppg and 2.3rpg in a little over 12 minutes a game across the 2020-21 NBL season.