The Columbian Dyip may have lost to the Magnolia Hotshots on Sunday evening, but Jerramy King had a reason to smile.
The Fil-American guard played his first game in five months after suffering a slight tear in his posterior cruciate ligament back in January, during the 2019 PBA Philippine Cup.
“It feels great, to be honest. I’m just thankful to God I’m able to play the game of basketball. I’m healthy now. Those were long five months but I’m just happy,” said King after their 103-110 loss.
“I’m just really happy that I can, like, grind and play basketball again to be honest,” he added.
“I love basketball and I’m just thankful for coach [Johndel Cardel] and all my teammates, and also the whole PBA.”
King only played for seven minutes and 14 seconds, producing two points and an assist against two turnovers. Sill, the 28-year-old said that he’s doing his best to integrate himself with the Dyip.
“I need to do my best to jel with the team. I’m getting there, but I think it’s a little bit slowly,” said King, who led Columbian’s scoring last season with a per-game average of 19.3 points.
“Coach is doing a good job of managing my minutes. Hopefully, slowly I can help the team more and more.”
Asked how his knee felt in his first game back, King said it felt good but he sees the need for it to be strengthened.
“It’s okay. It felt okay on the court today. Hopefully, I can get it stronger so I can run faster also. I felt a little bit slow but I can run faster soon,” said the product of Long Beach State in California.
Still, it could have been so much better had Columbian won. King admitted that he really wanted to win in his return, but he now has sights set on Friday’s match versus league leaders TNT KaTropa.
“I was hoping we can win on my first comeback game but that’s okay. Next game, we have a game, I think, Friday? So we get ready for the game on Friday.”
