Jeremiah Gray is hoping for the best after hurting his right knee during Ginebra’s eventual win over Terrafirma in their PBA Philippine Cup opener Wednesday.
The young winger is crossing his fingers that it won’t swell whatsoever but is optimistic at the same time that he suffered nothing serious even though the incident was scary enough to cast a cloud of anxiety over the Barangay.
“Hopefully, no swelling happens,” he told reporters moments after their 101-80 victory at the SMART Araneta Coliseum. “And then, just take it from there.”
Having just recovered from his second ACL injury, Gray got hurt at the 1:34-mark of the second quarter. He landed awkwardly as his knee gave out.
It happened when he rushed to help RJ Abarrientos in covering Kevin Ferrer on defense but it came at a cost as he hobbled on the way to the bench.
“It was my knee, for sure,” recalled the 28-year-old. “But like I said, we’ll just see how it feels tomorrow. That’s all we could do right now.”
Gray never returned to the match, finishing the night with six points, five rebounds, two assists, and a block in the 16 minutes he played.
The former second overall pick did admit that he got scared, which was truly understandable after suffering two major knee injuries in the past.
“I think I just had [an] initial shock of just feeling my leg not really under me. Scared me a little bit,” he said. “Kinda overreacted, for sure.”
Asked if an MRI would be needed, Gray said that the team’s medical staff isn’t advising as much, which should be a sign that things could be just fine.
Making him all the more positive that he’d be alright is that he had already experienced as much before but it did not turn out into something worse.
“Probably just to be safe but so far, the medical staff said there’s no need for that,” he said. “That kinda happened to me before where I tweaked a little bit, and it was just sore for a couple of days. And then I was fine.”
He was also made to do some exercises in the team’s locker room before leaving the Big Dome and that gave him a bit more assurance.
“I was walking just fine. I did some little exercise in the locker room and everything was OK. A little bit of tightness, but nothing to restrict my range of motion. I could still put weight on it,” Gray said.
But of course, he would remain under close monitoring as the Ginebra coaches are taking a much more careful approach with their prized ward.
“I feel pretty good. I had a little scare there, but I think everything should be OK,” he said. “We’ll just see how it feels in the morning and then take it from there.”
#WATCH: Jeremiah Gray talks about the injury he sustained during the game against Terrafirma 🏀
📹 @justinebacnis /Tiebreaker Times#PBA2025 pic.twitter.com/xAu03raylL
— Tiebreaker Times (@tiebreakertimes) April 23, 2025
