How an NBA Champion guided Hukporti’s recovery

Written by Melbourne United Media 

After losing an entire season to a ruptured achilles, Ariel Hukporti is raring to go as his second NBL campaign fast approaches.

The road to recovery was a difficult one, with the Togolese-German Next Star leaning on the advice of an NBA Championship winning-teammate shortly after going down at the NBL Blitz.

Speaking on The Extra Pass, Hukporti touched on how he spoke often with Jack White, who he played alongside in NBL22, and how his advice helped him in the early days of his rehab.

<iframe src="https://omny.fm/shows/the-extra-pass/ep-4-ariel-hukporti/embed?style=Cover" width="100%" height="180" allow="autoplay; clipboard-write" frameborder="0" title="Ep 4 - Ariel Hukporti"></iframe>

“I’ve been on a journey,” he said.

“It’s hard, but it’s possible. You know I’d seen Whitey (Jack White) do it and then he came back so that was a big motivation.

“I just followed his path, followed his steps and now I’m back, better than ever. I would just talk to him when I needed, I wasn’t really talking to a lot of people about my injury, it just gets to me mentally, but I would talk to him when it got to me mentally.

“Just calling him, talking to him about how it was for him and just trying to adapt.”

Being surrounded by a training staff that oversaw White’s achilles recovery, Hukporti was glad to have a team he could trust and count on alongside him as he looked to return better than ever.

Now back on the court, the seven-footer says he’s always looking to take the next step, ultimately resulting in running out in front of the Melbourne United fans again for the side’s season opener against the SEM Phoenix on 28 September (link to tickets).

“You always want more, I was playing one-on-one two weeks ago and now I’m playing three-on-three and I’m always wanting more,” he added.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Nine months after tearing his achilles, Ariel Hukporti is back and better than ever.<br>With the support of teammates <a href="https://twitter.com/zactriplett10?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@zactriplett10</a>, <a href="https://twitter.com/BradNewley?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BradNewley</a> &amp; Campbell Blogg, as well as some NBL1 players, Big A got first taste of competitive, full-contact play.<br>More: <a href="https://t.co/YplzR5fHE9">https://t.co/YplzR5fHE9</a> <a href="https://t.co/CCrmIgiKgX">pic.twitter.com/CCrmIgiKgX</a></p>&mdash; Melbourne United (@MelbUnited) <a href="https://twitter.com/MelbUnited/status/1666297560624152576?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 7, 2023</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

“Physically I feel like I can go, it’s just the conditioning part… but I’m definitely hyped to play basketball again.”

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