what happened?

His eyeball prolapsed or came out of socket - hope he is ok

According to Breakers Twitter, Mitchell has been released from hospital, further tests tomorrow.

What looked like it could have been a horrendous injury may turn out relatively okay for him after all.

It sounds like a gross injury, and I can't even imagine what it must feel like for the young man. But hopefully it's not actually that serious, and any longer term problems can be fixed with minor surgery to the connective tissue.

So it is good that they were able to replace it and he has some vision but i think it will be a while before they know if full vision will return
A prolapsed globe pulls on the optic nerve - which is responsible for sight

From the man himself on Twitter @ajmitchell25:

"...too soon? Lol thanks for all the love, well wishes, and prayers tonight. I'm home and seeing fine. More tests tomorrow"

That's very good news. Watching that game live probably the only time I've ever been grateful for a slightly blurry stream.

Great to hear he is doing so well. That was one of the most horrific injuries I've seen. I don't have a good stomach for that kinda stuff - no joke, I nearly yakked

So I guess his nickname has to be Popeye now right?

Great news, wish him well. I didn't see the incident, does anyone have a capture of it?

I avoided watching it on purpose, only to have someone send me a screen grab... brutal.

It does mark the first time I've ever walked into my office in the morning and had half a dozen different people talking to me about the NBL, FWIW...

There's footage on the herald sun website now..

Yeah, nasty and it looked like so many other times a player pokes his hand in the wrong place accidentally, but the result thankfully is rarely this bad.

I feel for the guy, hope I never see that sort of thing again and he recovers fully in time...

I've seen some ugly injuries in my time but holy crap.

Best wishes to the big guy, hope he makes a full, quick recovery. Look forward to seeing him take the court again.

I want to know why there was so much stuffing around on the court after the incident - sure reassure & comfort the guy - but then get to the hospital ASAP - this is something you need to fix right away - I think the doctors there were thinking"holy crap - what do we do??"

Glad to hear he is ok

Always thought Egwu was a bit unco..

Anonymous

I have replaced a couple of eyes before so I think I know a little more than you think.

Actually I'm a vet and have seen this a number of times.

Luckily it is not that common in people - and a lot of doctors including trauma surgeons will have never dealt with this sort of injury before. I'm just saying I don't know what could have been gained by remaining on the court for 10 minutes.

Hope the other players are okay as well - without meaning to sound wimpy, seeing a man's eye pop out in person is probably a hell of a lot different to watching SAW-type movies. Would be a pretty horrible thing to see happen, especially to a teammate.

I haven't seen the incident but given Akil has mentioned in a tweet he is ok I can assume he didn't rupture the optic nerve.

Well done to all the medical staff who were on hand to attend to this matter.

Retaining his vision is his absolute priority but it will be sad to have him be denied the chance to help NZ's push to the finals.

I wish Akil the best with his recovery given the circumstances.

Goggles time for every1 after that

Yep, I told my team I'm going to track down 12 pairs of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar goggles.

I was having enjoying my dinner until Mitchell eye injury but that was the end of dinner.I was glad to hear he got released from hospital about 2hrs after the game finished so it's not as bad as first thought which is good news the bloke.I would suggest he invests in some goggles in the Devin Williams style and for his new nickname i'l prefer Popeye than Cyclopes.Thank god he is ok.

Hope the other players are okay as well - without meaning to sound wimpy, seeing a man's eye pop out in person is probably a hell of a lot different to watching SAW-type movies.

This is just fantastic news for Akil.

http://www.news.com.au/sport/basketball/akil-mitchell-eyeball-gouge-new-zealand-breakers-nbl-import-speaks-out-after-freak-accident/news-story/6d75cafa19ab2e894d3b84413a364581

I could still see out of the eye even though it was kinda on the side of my face... it was a weird sensation," forward Akil Mitchell said.

So glad he seems to be ok.