Two torn ACLs before his eighteenth birthday. That is the fact that precedes everything else about Harry Giles III.
Giles was born on April 22, 1998, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. His father, Harry Giles II, played both college basketball and football at Winston-Salem State University. The younger Harry spoke the family language fluently from the start — a 6-foot-10 forward with guard-like instincts, explosive athleticism, and a ferocity that overwhelmed opponents at every level he touched.
At Wesleyan Christian Academy in High Point, he was a force of nature. As a freshman, he averaged 12.5 points and 9.5 rebounds, leading Wesleyan to the NCISAA 3A state championship alongside future NBA player Theo Pinson. MaxPreps named him National Freshman of the Year. He was fourteen years old.
Then the injuries began. Giles missed his entire sophomore season with a torn ACL, MCL, and meniscus in his left knee — a catastrophic injury for any athlete, let alone a fifteen-year-old. He spent the year in hot yoga with his high school coach Keith Gatlin, working in a swimming pool, studying the game from the bench. “He had so much attention, and, in his mind, I think he thought, ‘People forgot about me,’” Gatlin later said. “He was always trying to prove he was the same Harry.”
The chip and the edge produced a player who came back even better. As a junior, Giles averaged 23.9 points and 12.5 rebounds, leading Wesleyan to a 30-5 record and earning first-team All-USA honors from USA Today. In the summer of 2015, he won a gold medal with Team USA at the FIBA Under-19 World Cup in Greece. Scouts compared him to Chris Webber. He was the consensus No. 1 recruit in the country.
Before his senior year, Giles transferred to Oak Hill Academy — the storied basketball powerhouse in rural Virginia. He never played a game there. During his first scrimmage, he tore the ACL in his right knee. Two torn ACLs in two different knees, both before he turned eighteen. “This can’t be happening again,” Giles said. “It can’t be. It can’t be.”
Krzyzewski reaffirmed his commitment to Giles the day he was injured. Giles announced he’d be a Blue Devil the very next day. He withdrew from Oak Hill, enrolled at Forest Trail Academy in Kernersville, North Carolina, and finished his senior year online — alone with his rehab, while his classmates played basketball. Despite two catastrophic knee injuries and zero senior season games, he remained the No. 2 overall recruit in the 2016 class. He arrived in Durham with the highest expectations and the most fragile body in the history of the program.