There has been a strange mystery around Desmond Claude lately. Being gone for "personal reasons" last week and then not playing even though he returned. There's been concern that something big was happening behind the scenes, and as it turns out, it was health-related. He posted on social media today that he never fully recovered from his Grade 3 ankle sprain, and he can no longer play through the "unbearable pain."
Read Claude's full statement below:
— Desmond Claude (@DesmondClaude) January 17, 2026
Desmond Claude never recovered from his foot injury and now he needs to step away
Claude says his doctors told him he needed to wait 12 weeks before playing again. After 5 weeks of pushing to get back to full health and what he calls "aggressive physical therapy." It was at this point that his desire to help the Huskies win and the coach's staff's desire to have him back, they "collaboratively" decided to make the return to basketball.
That decision turned out to be costly; he was pushing through pain and forcing his ankle into tough positions before it was fully healed. According to Claude, he can't keep going, and he told the coaching staff today that "I must step away from all on-court activities and prioritize my health."
Maybe the worst part is that, beyond reaggravating his injury and setting a new timeline for his recovery, he also hurt his knee in the process. This almost assuredly puts him out for the rest of the year and puts the Huskies in an interesting spot with the guard play going forward.
However, his health is the most important, and he and the coaching staff should never have put him in a position to make his injury worse. However, it is a tough place to be when the player says he's ready and the coaches see the results on the court that he looks ready. However, that ended up being the wrong decision, and now a harder decision had to be made: to step away from basketball.