Former Seton Hall All-American and Knicks undrafted signing Myles Powell is suing his former school and Pirates head coach Kevin Willard for mismanaging a knee injury suffered during his senior season.
In a civil lawsuit filed on Wednesday, Powell says that he suffered a knee injury in the second game of the senior year, and was told by Willard and Tony Testa, Seton Hall’s director of sports medicine (also included in the lawsuit), that he had suffered an ankle injury and could continue to play without risk of further injury.
Powell played in the next game, but his injury turned out to be a torn meniscus, which Powell continued to play through despite feeling pain in his knee. According to the lawsuit, Powell would tell Testa about the pain in his knee, and Testa would insist that the Big East Player of the Year had a bone bruise and could continue to play, though Powell claims his practice time was limited due to the injury.
Powell, who received injections in his knee through the rest of his senior season, claims the injury mismanagement prevented him from being a lottery pick in the 2020 NBA Draft, where he went undrafted before signing with the Knicks for $50 thousand. Most draft projections had Powell not being selected, despite averaging 21 points and 4.2 rebounds in his senior season.
Powell played 13 games for the Westchester Knicks this past season, averaging 17.8 points and 3.8 assists, but was waived by New York in April.
Powell finished his college career with 2,252 career points, third-most in Seton Hall history.
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