North Carolina commit Kate Harpring suffers shoulder injury at McDonald's All-American Game

MichelleHillison · Wednesday at 8:09 AM

A North Carolina women’s basketball commitment suffered a scary injury during the 2026 McDonald’s All-American Game on Tuesday night. Kate Harpring was skying for a rebound off a missed 3-pointer when her shoulder seemed to pop out of the socket.

Harpring immediately halted her jump and clutched at the shoulder. She whirled her left arm around like a windmill, making two full loops before hitting the deck as a trainer sprinted toward her.

North Carolina commit Kate Harpring suffers shoulder injury at McDonald's All-American Game

North Carolina commitment Kate Harpring suffered a shoulder injury during the McDonald's All-American game that required immediate attention.

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tarboy · Wednesday at 8:55 AM

If I saw correctly the first one to Kate's side was her Dad who I think pushed her shoulder back into place.

kjcooper · Wednesday at 9:19 AM

Let's hope that if Kate Harping ends up playing PG and is successful it will attract high level individuals who will want to play with her. Still wishing the best for RK, but I'm optimistic about her being able to return as the player she once was before the injuries. CB is going hard after a PG in the class of 2027, which will only enhance the backcourt going forward.

6string · Wednesday at 9:25 AM

Kate is a natural PG who sees the whole floor. Can’t wait to see her here. Apparently this shoulder has been an issue for a while. Any of you PT types on here know if there are exercises or procedures that can help with that?

1stGenerationHeel · Wednesday at 11:50 AM

tarboy said:
If I saw correctly the first one to Kate's side was her Dad who I think pushed her shoulder back into place.

That's exactly what happened. Matt knew exactly what she had done and popped the shoulder back in to alleviate some of that pain.

HeelOne · Wednesday at 11:58 AM

Not a PT but wifey is. As a former pitcher who experienced subluxations it’s painful and a mental struggle. I haven’t seen video of the incident so I’m not sure if this was a dislocation or not. Either way, there’s obviously some laxity that needs to be addressed if she dislocated it during a non-contact play or if a subluxation event. For the record, I didn’t consult my wife on this before posting. I might should have lol. Just relaying what I recall from my experiences.

6string said:
Kate is a natural PG who sees the whole floor. Can’t wait to see her here. Apparently this shoulder has been an issue for a while. Any of you PT types on here know if there are exercises or procedures that can help with that?

Jriv23 · Wednesday at 12:37 PM

She will be the starting PG next year. I was kind of worried when she went down. I was like, no, no, no. We cannot take another hit of having a player injured. I immediately thought about Caleb Wilson and Maximo Adams. I was like this cannot be happening. Why now, but I was relieved when she came back out onto the floor at the start of the second half.

tarboy · Wednesday at 12:50 PM

1stGenerationHeel said:
That's exactly what happened. Matt knew exactly what she had done and popped the shoulder back in to alleviate some of that pain.

We need to make sure Dad has a sideline seat next season just in case. Maybe our UNC Healthcare can give Kate 110%d intensive look over to help strengthen her joint.

I felt so sorry for her. It has to hurt terribly. I think she reached high for a rebound on the right side and while fully extended her arm got pulled backwards and it pulled her arm ball out of the socket. JMO. (I have looked at it on tape a few times.)

Kate is blessed with a wonderful Dad and Mom. I am glad for that. If that ever happens next year Dad and Coach CB and our training staff will be out on the court like The Flash.

Jriv23 · Wednesday at 12:54 PM

With the technology and advancement in medicine now, there has to be a way that this issue can be fixed, corrected, and strengthen those joints. We cannot afford to have another RK and KM right now as far as injuries are concerned and both of these players not being able to play.

1stGenerationHeel · Wednesday at 1:21 PM

tarboy said:
We need to make sure Dad has a sideline seat next season just in case. Maybe our UNC Healthcare can give Kate 110%d intensive look over to help strengthen her joint.

I felt so sorry for her. It has to hurt terribly. I think she reached high for a rebound on the right side and while fully extended her arm got pulled backwards and it pulled her arm ball out of the socket. JMO. (I have looked at it on tape a few times.)

Kate is blessed with a wonderful Dad and Mom. I am glad for that. If that ever happens next year Dad and Coach CB and our training staff will be out on the court like The Flash.

It was weird, she was engaged on her right side with the other player on the offensive rebound attempt and then her left shoulder popped out. I couldn't see if maybe we was grabbing the other girl's jersey with her left hand when the girl jumped or if the other girl grabbed her left/hand arm when they both jumped.

3397char · Wednesday at 1:44 PM

6string said:
Apparently this shoulder has been an issue for a while. Any of you PT types on here know if there are exercises or procedures that can help with that?

Everyone is different, but there are some people who have their shoulders pop out on the regular, experiencing minor strains all the time. This is generally referred to as chronic shoulder instability. my wife's BFF has this for decades, and she happened to be a PT, and does exercises to try an strengthen the muscles there so it happened less frequently.

She was not an athlete, so she did not put as much strain on the shoulder as a basketball player would. But usually the only "cure" is significant ligament surgery which has a 4-9 month recovery time and thus is considered season-ending.

Long term consequences can include muscle and ligament tears, joint looseness as the ligaments get stretched out, numbness, pain, a feeling of weakness or instability, increasing risk of shoulder arthritis, etc.. So athletes often eventually go through surgery to improve performance.

To be clear, there are other potential explanation to what we just saw like a torn labrum or a rotator cuff tear. I had another close friend who had a torn labrum that took surprisingly long to diagnose. The labrum is the name for a large section of cartilage that is a part of your shoulder socket, the rotator cuff is a muscle group on the front of your shoulder, that bulbous mass above your arm pit. Those would more definitely need to be addressed with surgery (for an athlete) and long-term recovery as well. Recovery time for labrum surgery would have been 6 months for normal life, but extends to 6-12 months for elite athletic competition. He elected to go the PT route, but again not an athlete.

I am not a PT, this is more of a "I stayed at a Holliday Inn last night" sort of reply, based on friends with similar injuries.

3397char · Wednesday at 1:48 PM

1stGenerationHeel said:
It was weird, she was engaged on her right side with the other player on the offensive rebound attempt and then her left shoulder popped out. I couldn't see if maybe we was grabbing the other girl's jersey with her left hand when the girl jumped or if the other girl grabbed her left/hand arm when they both jumped.

Shoulder dislocation for people with chronic shoulder instability can be a non-contact sort of thing; just reaching and straining at the wrong angle, your own muscles can pull it out. The ease with which it appeared to pop out, the reports that this has happened frequently, and dad seeming to know how to handle the situation leads me to speculate this is what she is dealing with.

uman1 · Wednesday at 7:53 PM

3397char said:
Everyone is different, but there are some people who have their shoulders pop out on the regular, experiencing minor strains all the time. This is generally referred to as chronic shoulder instability. my wife's BFF has this for decades, and she happened to be a PT, and does exercises to try an strengthen the muscles there so it happened less frequently.

She was not an athlete, so she did not put as much strain on the shoulder as a basketball player would. But usually the only "cure" is significant ligament surgery which has a 4-9 month recovery time and thus is considered season-ending.

Long term consequences can include muscle and ligament tears, joint looseness as the ligaments get stretched out, numbness, pain, a feeling of weakness or instability, increasing risk of shoulder arthritis, etc.. So athletes often eventually go through surgery to improve performance.

To be clear, there are other potential explanation to what we just saw like a torn labrum or a rotator cuff tear. I had another close friend who had a torn labrum that took surprisingly long to diagnose. The labrum is the name for a large section of cartilage that is a part of your shoulder socket, the rotator cuff is a muscle group on the front of your shoulder, that bulbous mass above your arm pit. Those would more definitely need to be addressed with surgery (for an athlete) and long-term recovery as well. Recovery time for labrum surgery would have been 6 months for normal life, but extends to 6-12 months for elite athletic competition. He elected to go the PT route, but again not an athlete.

I am not a PT, this is more of a "I stayed at a Holliday Inn last night" sort of reply, based on friends with similar injuries.

Prior labrum surgery was mentioned during the gamecast iirc,

tarboy · Wednesday at 9:54 PM

It happened so quick 1stGen it is hard to say but I think with her arm straight up and extended she got some kind of pressure on it and it popped out. I wonder how often it has happened to her. She is a strong girl that we can see by her finishing strong at the basket .

I think we all maybe should pray she heals 100%. I am.

ZinfanHeel · Saturday at 10:25 AM

I had a shoulder injury in HS that led to repeated dislocations. Eventually surgery was required that fortunately fixed the problem.

If I'm not mistaken Tierra Ruffin-Pratt had a shoulder problem that required wearing a brace. She (and her family) put off surgery but eventually it was obviously required as the shoulder issue was affecting her game. IIRC she had the procedure after her junior year - it was successful - and she went on to have a great senior campaign that led to a WNBA contract.

Michelle, do you remember this?

Jriv23 · Saturday at 12:58 PM

I do remember that. I guess that might have to do the same with Kate to fix the problem for good. A tough decision that will have to be made.

North Carolina commit Kate Harpring suffers shoulder injury at McDonald's All-American Game

MichelleHillison

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