WORSE came to worst for the sliding University of the East when John Abate decided to sit out his remaining games after injuring his nose in practice.
With UE 0-11 at that point and nearing a reunion with Wello Lingolingo and head coach Chris Gavina to suspension, Abate decided to shut it down as team doctors advised him to wait for the swelling to subside before deciding the next steps to recovery.
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“It sucks at a crucial time or a point of the season where, you know, you kind of need to be most, but I didn't want to risk, you know, making a life term issue,” he said.
“And you have to let it recover. So it's watching every game, you know, even practices, you know, it's just hard just being there,” Abate added.
Abate’s nose has had a history of injuries just this Season 88, with him already injuring it before the season began.
“The 1st time I had a closed surgery, so not opening my skin or anything like that, just kind of knocking everything back in place, if you would say,” he shared.
His second injury, which was inadvertently caused by teammate Precious Momowei, left too many fractures at an untimely point in the season, which proved both inconvenient and risky for the Fil-Am player.
“He [the doctor] suggested getting a rhinoplasty, since there's so much trauma to the bones. So I’m still contemplating on deciding which I should go for.”
Where to next, John?
Aside from the ill timing of his injury, Abate also had his professional career in mind when he decided to hang up the red-and-white jersey, admitting to contemplating where his next journey will be.
“I’ll just go through it and just recover so I can be ready for whatever has for me next. Because you know, I might break my nose again, and then sayang rhinoplasty,” he stated.
Abate told SPIN.ph that a few professional teams already in Korea have shown interest, but he also hasn’t ruled out testing his mettle here in the Philippines.
“I'll go wherever basketball takes me. If that, you know, happens to be somewhere in Asia, or if it happens to be the Philippines, or somewhere else. And you know, I'm happy to do it,” he said.
While there is no definite decision yet for the 24-year-old, closing out his senior year averaging 16.2 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 4.3 assists has more than proven that he can produce on a professional level.”
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