Back to the Portland Trail Blazers Newsfeed

Skal Labissiere Reflects on Overcoming Adversity, Tragedy

Not much was known about Skal Labissiere when the Portland Trail Blazers acquired him at the NBA Trade Deadline in exchange for Caleb Swanigan. His Twitter handle, @OneBigHaitian, gives a little insight into Labissiere’s background. But as Jason Quick of The Athletic ($) found out, there’s much more to Labissiere.

Labissiere was 13 when a 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit his native Haiti in 2010; living through that had a massive impact on the forward:

Turns out, the most devastating day of his life was also his most opportunistic.