Carlos Alocén relives his nightmare: another cruciate ligament tear

The Gran Canaria point guard will miss the season after overcoming almost two years of absence when he was at Real Madrid

Carlos Alocén’s knee has creaked again and the Dreamland Gran Canaria point guard is facing the same abyss from which he thought he had escaped. The 24-year-old Aragonese point guard will miss the rest of the season due to a torn cruciate ligament in his right knee, suffered this past Wednesday in the Eurocup match against Wolves in Vilnius, Lithuania. It is the return of a nightmare for Alocén, who was out for 651 days with Real Madrid due to a torn cruciate ligament in his left knee. The point guard returned to play with the white team on November 26, 2023 after a very long recovery process and this past summer he left the white team and signed for Gran Canaria in search of minutes and prominence. With the island team he had played all the Endesa League matches until now, with 6.9 points and 3.1 assists on average per game.

“It hurts me because I was feeling especially good and it was a very happy time in my life and career. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little disoriented,” said the player, who is now back to square one. “I have a mixture of emotions inside me that makes me think more than I should right now, but the kid who fell in love with this sport a long time ago doesn’t plan on giving up easily. I recovered once. It was hard, but I recovered. I plan to give everything I have to do it again a second time. I feel that I still have a lot to give to basketball and something inside me tells me that basketball still has a lot to give me. See you in a few months on the courts.”

Son of Alberto Alocén, who played 152 league games for Huesca between 1983 and 1990, the boy made his ACB debut with Zaragoza on October 30, 2016, precisely against Real Madrid. He was only 15 years and 10 months old, becoming the youngest debutant for the Aragonese and evoking the precocity and talent of Ricky Rubio. The Madrid team signed him in July 2019 to leave him on loan for a year at his home club. That season and the next he was named the best young player in the League, a double only previously celebrated by Luka Doncic. At the White House he already played in 38 league games in the 2020-21 season (4.7 points and two assists on average) at the start of what seemed like a career without stopping. But the count stopped at the 11 ACB games of the following season, 86 in all competitions since his arrival. Until the 28th minute of Unicaja-Madrid on February 13, 2022, in a drive to the basket in a tussle with Alberto Díaz, the cruciate ligament on his left knee cracked. A nightmare began that he must now relive.