GREAT FALLS — Former Missoula Sentinel and University of Providence standout guard Zaccheus Darko-Kelly has proved himself at the professional level going from the NBA Summer League to playing overseas.
Darko-Kelly began to make a name for himself during his first year in Finland, then took another step forward and started playing in the Champions League in Greece. But in November of 2022, his career would come to an abrupt pause.
“We were playing a game in Spain. I subbed in for like thirty seconds, went up for a rebound, landed on someone’s foot and my ankle dislocated,” said Darko-Kelly. “Ruptured both of my ligaments on each side and also broke my fibula.”
He underwent a successful surgery in November and was back on his feet in February. Darko-Kelly began rehabilitation which included water therapy, physiotherapy, Pilates and much more. Although he is currently still on the road to being 100% recovered, he is healthy enough to have been offered a spot to play in Germany the upcoming season.
“I just signed with Tigers Tuebingen. It’s in the BBL in Germany,” said Darko-Kelly. “They’re a young team, they just came up from the second division because they won that league. It’ll be their first year in the BBL so it’ll be a fresh start for them and a fresh start for me as well.”
Darko-Kelly and his family never had a doubt that he would be able to return to professional basketball following the injury. In fact, they all just knew it would come down to the timing. Now that his ankle is near fully healed and he has locked in a spot on his new team, he will continue to rehab it as he gets ready for the upcoming season,.
“It was super gratifying. I put in a lot of work to get back and to be able to play so getting another chance and another opportunity was amazing,” said Darko-Kelly.
He will be heading to Germany in mid August to join his new team and pick up his career right where he left off.
