The guard went down injured after just two minutes on the court
Keenan Evans suffers Achilles rupture in EuroLeague return
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Keenan Evans’s long road back to the EuroLeague ended in heartbreak Wednesday night.
The Olympiacos Piraeus guard suffered a rupture of his left Achilles tendon just over two minutes into his return during a Round 10 win over Zalgiris Kaunas, the team announced after the game. It was his first EuroLeague appearance since April 11, 2024, the final day of the 2023-24 regular season.
Evans checked in with 2:16 left in the first quarter and was greeted by a loud ovation inside Peace and Friendship Stadium. Facing his former team, the 29-year-old was playing his first EuroLeague minutes since joining Olympiacos in the summer of 2024. He had made his season debut last weekend in Greek League action – his first game back after a long recovery from injury.
Less than two minutes later, he went down clutching his left leg. Play stopped immediately as teammates and staff rushed to help, and the crowd fell silent. Evans was later helped off the court and did not return.
For Evans, the injury is another cruel setback. The former Zalgiris star hoped to be able to contribute for Olympiacos upon his return, bringing scoring and experience to one of Europe’s top rosters.
“First and foremost, I want to pray for Keenan Evans,” Tyler Dorsey said in his opening remarks to EuroLeague TV after the game. “I don't know what the injury is, but hopefully God can cover him and bless him with nothing serious.”
“Today, this [win] is not important. The most important thing is I really hope this tragedy that happened again with Keenan is not as bad as it seems it is,” Nikola Milutinov added. “It's the most difficult for him, it's also difficult for all of us because we've been with him through the previous year throughout the whole process. We know how much hard work he put in. He wanted to be with us, he wanted to be part of this team. Again, he was so unlucky.”
Olympiacos went on to win the game, but the result took a back seat to concern for Evans. The club has not yet announced a timeline for his recovery.
Evans, who has battled back from serious injury before, now faces another long rehab.