Basketball player's eye pops out on court

A basketball player says he is "doing pretty well, all
 things considered" after his eye popped out in the
 middle of a game, New Zealand media report.

Akil Mitchell, who plays for the New Zealand Breakers,
 was in Auckland for an Australian NBL game on 
Thursday night when the incident happened.

The finger of an opposing player accidentally dislodged
 his eyeball.

The American fell to the ground holding his hands to 
his left eye and was rushed to hospital.

"With the palm of my hand I felt my eyeball on the side 
of my face," he told New Zealand's Radio Sport.


"I could still see out of the eye."

"I remember thinking oh man... this is kinda bad, but I
 actually felt it kind of out of place and that's when I
 kind of freaked out a little bit."

The 24-year-old said he remembered hearing the crowd 
and fellow players panicking and thought he would 
lose his sight and his career was over.

"Once I got in the ambulance they gave me a little
 pain medicine and some saline drops in my eye and
 I felt it slide back into place, which is also a really 
strange feeling.

"It felt so good to be able to blink again, which is insane."

After being released from hospital on Thursday, he posted 
on Twitter that he was "seeing fine" and used the eyeballs emoji. The player from North Carolina said he was 
expected to fully recover and could be playing again
 soon.