Duane RankinArizona Republic
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PALM DESERT, Calif. – Damion Lee deeply inhaled and exhaled as he took the floor at the team’s practice facility for training camp.
He needed a moment.
“Tried to be as present as possible,” Lee said after Thursday’s practice in Phoenix. “We’re going through the stretches, we’re going through the warmup. I had the butterflies, I had the jitters. The music is going. So I’m just trying to sing along with the music like a normally do. Just trying to stay in the moment.”
There was a time Lee wondered if he’d ever return to the game he loves. He even had doubts about just getting back to being himself as a person.
A brutal right knee injury during a workout before training camp a year ago sidelined him for the entire 2023-24 season.
Lee is nearly a year removed the from Oct. 10 surgery that required a double posterior root repair.
He experienced bouts of depression and sought out a therapist, a decision that tends to be frowned upon in the Black community.
“I think there are times we as males, especially Black males, in this society feel like therapy isn't a way,” Lee said last Monday, at the team's media day. “We go to the barber shop, that's therapy. We listen to music, that's therapy. We play sports, that's therapy, but there are ways of getting out of your own mind and getting out of your own head that are needed and should be encouraged.”
Lee found the resolve to continue the rehab process. Truth be told, he really didn’t have a choice.
See, Lee has battled injuries before, but long before having a family to support.
“It’s bigger than me,” Lee said Monday. “I got a wife. I got two kids. I can’t afford to not be in the right spaces and not be good because there are other people counting on me.”
Now Lee is back. He has multiple dunks to prove it.
“Guys were like, ‘Oh man, we might need to stop practice. D-Lee just dunked. What's happening?’" Lee said much to the amusement of the media after Thursday’s practice.
Welcome back, D-Lee.
“So happy for Damion,” Suns superstar Kevin Durant said. “He’s been through so much injury-wise in his career, in college and in the league. Having multiple surgeries. It’s something about a guy’s character who continues to come to work every day when stuff like that, injuries are out of your control. He’s a diligent worker. He wants to be great. He’s a great teammate, first of all, but once he gets on the court, he’s a fierce competitor. I just love being around him.”
Lee has been documenting the entire rehab process. He’s posted snippets of it on Instagram.
“It’s pretty crazy to see the jump that you can have because from a month in, there’s no way in my mind I would think I would be where I am now,” Lee said. “Three months ago, there’s no way I would think I would be where I am right now and it’s not like I haven’t been through stuff. I’ve been through some s—t.”
Lee has suffered torn ACLs on both knees, broke his hand twice and undergone foot procedures all before playing in the NBA.
Lee responded and overcame.
“I’ve been through it and I’m still standing tall,” Lee continued. “That’s perseverance, that’s resilience, that’s faith. That’s like believing that it’s possible – all added to the fact of being undrafted. Guys like me, we don’t get chances like that. You have to go get it. You got to go take it and that’s really where my mindset is this year. I understand this is a very meaningful year for my career.”
The Suns watched him go through his ups and downs of rehab, but Bradley Beal acknowledged they weren’t sure about the depths of his emotional state.
“You may have an idea, but you never know,” Beal said. “You do a good job of keeping it and sheltering it, which is the toughest part. You still come to work, being a professional, cheering on the guys even though you want to be out there with every inch that’s mustered in your body.”
Beal said Lee is “in a great space” mentally right now.
“You can see the joy on his face,” Beal continued. “And just watching him through his progression and rehab last year, the focus that he had. You can see he had bad, good days. He’d say, ‘Man, it’s a tough day for me’ or ‘It’s a great day for me.’ You can see the ups and downs, but that fight and belief in himself and faith to overcome, that’s exemplary. Just speaks of his character, his courage.”
New Suns coach Mike Budenholzer caught the back end of Lee’s rehab process when Lee worked his way up to finally playing five-on-five in September.
“When something is taken away from you, I think you appreciate it more and it feels like D-Lee does,” Budenholzer said.
Lee played for him in Atlanta during his rookie year in 2017-18. Reunited, Budenholzer sees Lee playing a role for the Suns starting with the 3-point shot.
Phoenix is looking to generate more 3s after finishing 25 in the NBA last season in 3-point attempts. Lee drained a career-high 44.5% of his 3s in his first year in Phoenix in 2022-23.
“You see him on the floor, it’s like damn, we missed that,” Beal said about Lee. “We needed that shot. I’m just happy for him. I think being in a great mental space is probably the most important thing. Once you feel good mentally? Obviously the body is a big obvious, but if you feel good mentally, man, that just takes care of everything. You’re just confident in everything you can do. You’re able to go try things out there that you didn’t think you can go try. He’s been doing well. I’m beyond happy for him.”
Right now, Lee is focused on being in the present.
The past is painful. The future is unknown.
“I don’t anticipate or expect myself to come out early in the season and play 30 minutes a game,” Lee said. “I know what I do. I know what my role is and when the time comes for me to out there and contribute, then I will and I’ll try to do it to the best of my abilities.”
Have opinions about the current state of theSuns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin atdmrankin@gannett.comor contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at@DuaneRankin.
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