'Feel Like a New Man': Duke Basketball Forward on Recovery From Injury

Maliq Brown dislocated his left shoulder in a road win over Virginia in mid-February, returned to action a few weeks later only to reinjure the shoulder two games into his return, and then played again two weeks later in the Sweet 16 and from that point forward in the 2024-25 Blue Devils' run to the Final Four.

All season, when at full strength, the long-limbed Brown's defensive efforts all over the court served as a lethal X-factor for Jon Scheyer's 35-win Duke squad. And the 21-year-old Brown, who arrived in Durham via the transfer portal last year after leading the ACC in the steals department (71) as a sophomore at Syracuse, figures to play an even bigger role in Scheyer's fourth season at the helm.

On that note, there's no doubt the importance of his recovery from the aforementioned shoulder woes.

A few minute into Brown's chat with Blue Devil junior guard Caleb Foster on this week's episode of The Brotherhood Podcast, he updated his efforts in getting back to full strength this offseason:

"I'm feeling good — both of us have been here the whole summer — just attacking every day, rehabbing, and getting on the court as much as I can. [I'm] just adding stuff every day, especially every week, but every day just trying to add something new, whether it's in the rehab or if it's on the court...

"Man, it feels good [to be back in the weight room]. It feels like a new man, just being able to at least put some weight on the bars, or you know, just get some curls, and just feeling different from just watching y'all...So now, it's being part of the team more. And it's feeling better."

Brown, an All-ACC Defensive Team selection for the 2023-24 Orange, averaged only 2.5 points and 3.7 rebounds across 26 outings last season. But the 6-foot-9, 225-pounder, boasting a 7-foot-plus wingspan, paced the explosive Duke basketball rotation in steals per 40 minutes, and he did so by a wide margin, with his 3.2 per 40 almost doubling the next on the list in Cooper Flagg's 1.8 mark.

"He's by far the best defender I've played with," Foster said about Brown during their 30-minute sitdown, "or really seen with my own eyes..."

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