He missed nearly a year of basketball, but the Malian forward is now starring for NINERS Chemnitz
Chemnitz’s Amadou Sow thankful for advice from Slovenian veteran Edo Muric after ACL tear
Player Spotlight
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Amadou Sow has made a major impact on a NINERS Chemnitz team that is on the brink of qualifying for the playoffs in its first-ever season in the BKT EuroCup. And the Malian forward credits European veteran Edo Muric for helping him through one of the toughest periods of his professional career.
Sow ranks third on the Chemnitz roster in scoring at 11.9 points per game, while adding a team-second-best 5.1 rebounds per contest. He also contributes 0.6 assists and 0.4 steals per game in his second EuroCup season.
The 2.06-meter big man actually made his EuroCup debut during the 2023–24 season with Cedevita Olimpija Ljubljana, averaging 7.5 points and 5.4 rebounds in 11 games, eight of them as a starter.
Sow’s promising season came to an abrupt end on December 13, 2023, when he tore his ACL during a EuroCup game at Joventut Badalona.
“When I found out it was an ACL, I was pretty down,” Sow, who had turned 25 just a month earlier, told David Hein.
“But I had an amazing support system with my wife, my friends at the University of California–Santa Barbara, and their staff. Everybody was very supportive, which made the journey back even easier.”
Sow waited a month before undergoing surgery in mid-January 2024 in Santa Barbara, where he played his college basketball. That marked the beginning of a long road back.
“The biggest advice I got throughout the whole process was patience. Make sure you feel comfortable getting back out there,” Sow said. “I waited 11 months, and by then I felt ready and confident in my body, which allowed me to make my comeback.”
That advice came from Muric, who was recovering from the same injury at the time. The veteran forward tore his ACL in June 2023 while playing with the Slovenian national team and missed the FIBA World Cup 2023. Muric eventually returned to the court in September 2024 at the start of the 2024–25 season.
“The biggest thing he stressed was patience,” Sow said of Muric. “There are going to be days when you’re down. There are going to be days when it feels like everything is falling apart. But in reality, it’s not. It’s just a mental battle.
“He had the same surgery and was coming back from it himself. Every question I had, I went to him. He always gave me the advice I needed to hear to keep going, which was huge for me – having someone like that.”
Sow said he began missing basketball almost immediately after the injury.
“It happened in the third quarter, and by the fourth quarter I was already itching to get back in,” he said. “After surgery, it took a good couple of months before I could step back on the court, start jumping, and doing all the movements again. But it was worth it.”
The timing of the surgery and recovery proved somewhat disadvantageous. During the summer, Sow was not yet cleared for contact or the physical demands of the game. He continued training and participated in his first full 5-on-5 action in late July or early August. By then, however, many players were already in training camps or preparing to return to college or head overseas.
Sow said he felt ready to return to professional basketball around November or December 2024. He finally got the opportunity on January 9, 2025, when SIG Strasbourg announced it had signed him through the end of the season.
“It was huge. I was very happy to be back and playing again, especially in Strasbourg, a league I was already somewhat familiar with,” said Sow, who played his first professional season with French club ADA Blois Basket 41 in 2022–23. “It also helped being with players I’d played with before. I played with Brice Dessert in my first year in France, and he was in Strasbourg. Seeing familiar faces made it even better.”
Sow delivered solid production for the rest of the season, averaging 7.4 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, highlighted by a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds against Saint-Quentin.
After finishing the season strong, Sow opted to move to Germany to join Chemnitz – a team he had considered after his first professional season in 2023 before ultimately choosing Cedevita.
“I chose to play in the EuroCup instead of the FIBA Europe Cup, where Chemnitz was competing that season,” he said. “That decision was huge in terms of competition, improving my game, and understanding basketball at a higher level. After the injury, they reached out again and wanted me to join. I really liked the structure here – the coach, the environment, and how they develop players and put them on the right path. All of that really appealed to me.”
His season with Cedevita also gave Sow the opportunity to learn from a roster filled with veteran talent, including Zoran Dragic, Jaka Blazic, Alen Omic, Klemen Prepelic, Jaka Klobucar, Justin Cobbs, Sean Armand, Shawn Jones and Nikola Radicevic – all aged 30 or older.
“That was a crazy experience,” Sow said. “Those guys are big names, legends in their countries. They have incredible knowledge of European basketball. Just learning the small details, the daily preparation, and seeing how they still perform at a high level at that age was huge for me.”
Now back in the EuroCup with Chemnitz, Sow approaches the game with a different perspective – one shaped in part by the 11 months he spent away from the court.
“It was a learning experience,” he said. “Seeing myself at my lowest point and building myself back up to where I am now – back on the EuroCup stage – has been an incredible journey. It helped me learn more about myself and how to grow through the toughest moments.”