Henri Veesaar (13).
Henri Veesaar (13). Source: ATLHawks/X
Estonian national team player and NBA star Henri Veesaar's 2026-2027 season is over before it started, due to injury.
The center was selected by the Atlanta Hawks in this summer's NBA draft ahead of the season, which starts in October. However, he tore the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee during training last week, the team said.
Veesaar, 22, is set to undergo surgery in October, but will likely miss the whole season.
An @emoryhealthcare injury update:
During a workout on Sept. 15, Henri Veesaar sustained a right knee injury. Following an MRI and evaluation at the Emory Sports Medicine Complex, he was diagnosed with a torn right ACL.
Veesaar will undergo surgery with Dr. Kyle Hammond at the… pic.twitter.com/fxVePjEiNF
— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) September 21, 2026
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The Hawks chose Veesaar, who had played college basketball with the North Carolina Tar Heels and before that the Arizona Wildcats, with the 52nd pick in the draft back in June, and he signed a four-year contract with the club worth $9.3 million.
He was only the third Estonian to make it to the NBA, after Martin Müürsepp in the 1990s and, more recently, Veessaar's Estonia teammate Henri Drell, who got a few starts with the Chicago Bulls in the 2023-2024 season but chiefly played for their G-League affiliate, the Windy City Bulls, later moving to the Rip City Remix, the G-League affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers.