All-Star guard Kyle Lowry, who underwent wrist surgery last week, confirmed that the injury wasn’t exactly a new one. As Mike Ganter of The Toronto Sun details, Lowry has been dealing with wrist problems for a while, but aggravated it prior to the All-Star break, necessitating surgery.
“From what I’ve been told, it’s a 10-year process,” Lowry said. “It’s a long process of wear and tear, and bumping and grinding, and hitting guys. It’s a little bit of wear and tear. It was just at the point where it got a little bit worse to the point where I couldn’t play. If it’s that serious for me, I knew it was something that needed to be checked on.”
Although Lowry has a plan in mind for when he’d like to return, the Raptors guard was unwilling to lay out his recovery timetable publicly, telling reporters that he just wants to be sure he’s “completely healthy” when he gets back on the court: “I don’t want to have to be not full Kyle going into any situation. I want to be able to go out and play and not have any hold-back.”
Here are a few more odds and ends from across the NBA:
- After signing with Octagon Sports last year, Grizzlies center Marc Gasol has left that agency and is currently without representation, reports Liz Mullen of SportsBusiness Journal (via Twitter). Gasol’s max contract won’t expire until at least 2019, so he won’t need to negotiate a new contract anytime soon.
- While most NBA pundits who handed out grades for deadline trades did so just hours after the trade deadline passed last month, Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer decided to wait a couple weeks to see how players meshed with their new teams. The Wizards, Raptors, Mavericks, and Rockets are among the teams to get high grades, while the Pelicans have earned an F so far, with the potential for an eventual A if they can figure things out with DeMarcus Cousins.
- Former NBA players Jabari Brown, Jerrelle Benimon, and Shane Edwards have signed D-League contracts, according to Chris Reichert of The Step Back (all Twitter links). As Reichert notes (via Twitter), Brown’s rights are held by the Santa Cruz Warriors, while Benimon’s are held by the Delaware 87ers.
- Allen Iverson and DerMarr Johnson will serve as co-captains for a BIG3 team called 3’s Company, according to the league’s website. Iverson and Johnson will fill out the rest of their five-man roster via the BIG3 draft pool.