Shortly after the Philadelphia 76ers dropped a tough one to the Indiana Pacers 118-111 to begin their 6-game road trip on Saturday, the team found out that assistant coach Dave Joerger had cancer and he was stepping away from the team to undergo chemotherapy.
Joerger is a beloved member of coach Doc Rivers’ staff and it is certainly tough to hear about this for any team, but especially one like the Sixers that is currently going through it at the moment as they move forward.
“We wanted to tell the players,” said Rivers. “Dae’s one tough guy. He’s been dealing with this for almost three weeks now, four weeks. He’s done some radiation and chemo already. That’s why he’s missed a couple of practice, but now it’s going to get to the tougher, heavy part and he’s going to be out for a while.”
Hearing news that somebody close to you has cancer is tough enough, but when it comes at a time like this one for the Sixers, they are understandably going to be emotional.
“It’s sad, it hurts, but his spirit is extremely high,” said Tyrese Maxey. “So when someone is going through something, but their spirit is high, it makes you believe in them and trust in them, and really have faith in them. It was tough. I dropped my head immediately when I heard it, but as soon as he started talking and telling us that he’ll be fine. He’s okay, his spirit is extremely high, that made me happy. I just gave him a big hug and told him I’m praying for him and I love him.”
Joerger does have the reputation of a fighter amongst the group so they all expressed their confidence that he will be able to win this battle with this disease.
“Sad news for sure,” added Tobias Harris. “We know he’s somebody who’s a fighter and somebody who’s going to do everything he can to push through and come out on top of it. For us, we’re definitely gonna miss him. Keep his family and him in all our prayers and just encourage him through this time to stay positive and just push through.”
It also helps that Joerger is keeping a positive attitude. Anybody who gets hit with this type of news could easily get down on themselves and being to get depressed. It’s human nature, but Joerger is choosing to stay positive and continue to fight this battle.
“Dave is an upbeat guy so seeing him every day and seeing how he is, to have to hear that after a tough loss, it was hard to hear,” said Andre Drummond. “He’s gonna be fine. He’s gonna come back better than ever. From what he said, he has a very high chance of beating this, so sure he’ll be fine. He’s tough.”
All the Sixers can really do at this moment in time is continue to pray for Joerger and think about him and support him. At this point, it will be their job to make sure that he is able to fight through this tough time.
“I kind of think for the group to hear from him, you can tell that it’s a tough time because we’re in the season and we’re going through it and now this comes up,” Harris added. “I think it just puts things in perspective like, you play basketball, we love it, but he’s going through something that’s bigger than basketball and for us as a group and a family, you just got to be there to support him, and encourage him through this process and keep his family in our prayers and really pray for success during this time.”
This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!
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