Senior Nahkeem Singleton suffered a knee injury that ended his season and removed a major contributor from the Rocket basketball lineup.
In a terribly devastating blow to both his team as well as the RMHS basketball fans, star center Singleton underwent season ending MCL surgery on his knee in February after missing most of the second half of the season with the injury. The freakish athlete and towering paint presence, who’s dominance on the court propelled the team to an impressive 10-1 start when he was active, will now enter a recovery phase to try and strengthen himself for the future. Despite initial hopes for Singleton to play through his knee pain, medical evaluations revealed the severity of his sustained injury.
The loss of the star senior big man proved to be a major setback for the team, who had been counting on his leadership and physical presence on the hardwood. In his absence, the Rockets suffered a 59-57 loss to Middleborough in the first round of the post season tournament on Friday, March 1st.
Fans and teammates of Singleton expressed great disappointment and shock when told of his injury. Many took it to social media, such as Instagram or Snapchat, and sent out thoughtful messages for his recovery. After an interview with senior captain Shea Donahue, it’s fair to say Singleton could be described as a very versatile basketball player whose impact will be greatly missed..
“When Nahkeem was playing for us, he was an all around beast. Grabbing rebounds, blocking shots, finishing at the rim, throwing down dunks. I mean, he was just a phenomenal player for us.” When asked about a projected performance if Singleton was perhaps healthy and playing, Donahue says, “If we had Nahkeem the whole way, I think we’re going at least Sweet 16, Elite 8, you know, he’s just that good of a player,”
Having dedicated countless hours to improving upon his skills and taking his game to the next level, the sudden end to his senior season was a bitter pill to swallow. When speaking face to face with Singleton, he shared his mindset on the injury and what the next steps are for him.
“There are plans to play basketball once my injury gets better, but, if that doesn’t work out, I was just gonna do a trade if my leg doesn’t really heal right.”
This is great news for the community to hear as they now know he has a back up plan in store, but praying for a steady recovery will remain the top priority. When asked to give one piece of advice to other young Reading basketball players, Singleton answered, “Have good grades, listen to your teachers, go to school, listen to Coach Morrissey, and do your job on the court. That’s basically it, that’s all you need to do. It’s what you need to do to be successful in basketball, to go far.”
In another interview with senior varsity basketball member Andrew Jackvony, he describes Singleton as an extremely valuable member of the basketball team.
“It was definitely a huge adjustment for the team. It definitely changed the team chemistry a lot, and yeah, we did face a lot of challenges without Nahkeem. And if we did have him for the remainder of the season and into the playoffs, I think we would’ve had a better chance at making a big run with his overall presence in the paint and just shot blocking ability, defense and just being a force on the interior. It was huge, it was crucial, and the season definitely had some difficulties once he went down.”
All in all, Singleton played a major role on the 2023-2024 Reading Rockets basketball team, and it will be more than exciting to see what he has in store for the future following his recovery.
