Gerald Green Lost His Finger While Dunking

Last season, the Houston Rockets added an extra nine fingers to their roster. 9? Yes, Gerald Green lost a finger when he was a kid.



In 6th Grade, when he was 11 years old, Gerald Green lost about half of his right ring finger while trying to dunk on a makeshift hoop. He and his younger brother had a jumping contest at home one day, testing their vertical leap. Green was wearing his mother’s ring as the ring caught on a nail and his finger was ripped to the bone. This lead to an amputation.

“I was teasing my brother, ‘You can’t jump this high,’ ” Green said. “I went up and I yanked my finger off. It was still intact but they couldn’t save it during surgery.”

Just think about it. Green, one of the world’s best dunkers, can’t palm a ball with his right hand.

“If I could palm a ball I probably could have more dunks than I have in my career, but I still can get the job done”

Well, ‘getting the job done’ seems like a fairly underwhelming statement when you see Gerald get up and dunk it.