- NBA guard Myles Powell is suing his alma mater, Seton Hall.
- He has accused the school of misdiagnosing a serious knee injury.
- Powell says playing through the injury has caused further complications and affected his NBA value.
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Myles Powell, a professional basketball player who last played for the Westchester Knicks of the NBA G League, is reportedly suing his alma mater Seton Hall, accusing them of misdiagnosing a knee injury he suffered his senior year in 2019.
The 24-year-old guard says Seton Hall men's basketball head coach Kevin Willard and the school's director of sports medicine Tony Testa acted negligently in allowing him to play on a torn meniscus, according to documents obtained by Nicholas Katzban of NorthJersey.com.
Powell played his entire four-year college career at Seton Hall and was named a consensus All-American as a senior in 2020. He went undrafted in the 2020 NBA Draft before signing with the New York Knicks as an undrafted free agent and spent his rookie season in the G League. But the Knicks waived Powell on April 24 after just 13 games in G League.
Powell signed with the Knicks for a guaranteed $50,000 but could have made up to $8 million if he was a lottery pick. The suit claims Powell would have been a lottery pick if not for the untreated torn meniscus, which alarmed NBA scouts.
Powell sustained the injury in the second game of the 2019-20 season against Stony Brook on Nov. 9, 2019.
According to the suit, Powell alleges that Willard and Testa told him it was an ankle injury and could continue to play without trouble. However, Willard told reporters in a press conference that night that it was a severe ankle injury and could lead to Powell missing prolonged playing time.
The pain Powell felt his right knee worsened as the season progressed. The lawsuit accuses Testa of diagnosing the pain as a bone bruise and treating it by injecting pain-killing medication into the knee throughout the season. Testa did not inform Powell of the torn meniscus, according to the lawsuit.
"Whenever he would ask Dr. Testa about the pain, the doctor would advise it was just a bone bruise and that playing on it would not exacerbate the injury," the lawsuit reads. Testa does not have a medical degree, according to the Seton Hall website.
The injury should have kept Powell out for the remainder of the season to avoid exacerbating the injury, the suit claims.
Insider has reached out to Seton Hall for comment but has not received a response at the time of publication.