Asia Durr announces she is cleared to return to basketball after missing two years due to COVID-19

Over the past two years, COVID-19 has wreaked havoc on every aspect of our lives. We’ve lost thousands of friends, family members, colleagues, etc. to this disease and the way we live will likely never be the same again. COVID has permanently changed us and how we as a society come together to bounce back will define us for generations.

In the sports world, Asia Durr has had her career thrown into doubt because of COVID. The No. 2 overall pick in the 2019 WNBA Draft was initially diagnosed with COVID-19 in June 2020 prior to the “wubble” and had to miss that season.

Durr in fact has been dealing with long haul COVID, which caused her to miss the 2021 season as well. She tried her best to make it back onto the court with her New York Liberty teammates (she kept up with her teammates and took in a Liberty game when they were in Atlanta to play the Dream this spring), but it wasn’t meant to be.

Then, in January of this year, she did an interview with HBO’s Real Sports and spoke about her ordeal, saying in part:

“I’m so used to if you get hurt playing basketball, they say, ‘You’ll be out for two weeks or two months, or whatever.’ This is, ‘We don’t know.’ Everybody’s body is different. That’s something I’ve never heard before. I’ve been hurt a few times in my career, and I’ve always been put on a timetable. This is all new.

However, there is good news! On Monday night, Durr took to her Instagram page and had a major announcement to share.

In the video, Durr announced that she has been cleared to return to the hardwood! Here’s the key section from hoops writer Myles Ehrlich of Nets Winsidr, NetsRepublic and Queen Ballers:

Durr also took to Twitter and had this to share:

Joe Tsai added his congratulations:

Having Durr be able to make it this far is an amazing, amazing development. It looked like COVID was going to stop her burgeoning career in its tracks, but Durr never gave up and continued to work as hard as she could to make it back.

As she’s continued on the comeback trail, she’s had the full support of the New York Liberty, WNBA, and sports world at large. Here’s hoping we see Durr back and better than ever in 2022.

• ‘We’re going to be in the gym!’: Sights and sounds from Asia Durr’s big announcement - Jackie Powell - The NEXT
• New York Liberty’s Asia Durr cleared to resume basketball activities after missing 2 seasons with long-haul COVID-19 - Mechelle Voepel - ESPN
• Former Louisville star Asia Durr, a COVID long hauler, cleared to play basketball again - Cameron Teague Robinson - Louisville Courier-Journal