Injury Notes: Mathurin, Brunson, Kuminga, Giannis

Pacers rookie Bennedict Mathurin appeared in each of his team’s first 67 games this season, but it doesn’t look like he’ll be able to suit up for all 82. As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star writes, Mathurin had to be carried to the locker room after spraining his right ankle in the first quarter of Thursday’s win over Houston, and head coach Rick Carlisle said later in the night that he expects the guard to miss some time.

“It’s gonna look different out there without Benn,” Carlisle said. “… I certainly don’t believe he’ll play either of the Detroit games (on Saturday and Monday.) Other guys will have to be ready.”

Mathurin will likely to be evaluated further on Friday to determine whether he’ll have to be ruled out for a set amount of time or whether the injury will be considered day-to-day. Assuming he does miss multiple games, the Pacers figure to lean more heavily on wings like Aaron Nesmith, Chris Duarte, Jordan Nwora, as Dopirak notes.

Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:

  • Knicks guard Jalen Brunson, who missed two games due to left foot soreness, returned on Thursday in Sacramento but wasn’t able to finish the game and didn’t come out for the second half, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. “He just re-aggravated it, but I haven’t talked to the medical people yet,” head coach Tom Thibodeau said. “Just soreness.”
  • Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga rolled his ankle during pregame warmups on Thursday and was unavailable vs. Memphis, tweets Tim MacMahon of ESPN. X-rays on the injury were negative, but Kuminga was wearing a boot after the game, according to Madeline Kenney of The Bay Area News Group (Twitter link).
  • After initially being listed as probable with a non-COVID illness, Giannis Antetokounmpo was ruled out for the Bucks‘ game on Thursday due to right hand soreness. Antetokounmpo, who is also dealing with right knee soreness, sprained his right wrist just before the All-Star break, but head coach Mike Budenholzer doesn’t believe the new injury is related to that, per Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “I think just generally playing and getting hit and stuff like that,” Budenholzer said. “… I don’t think it’s a specific moment or incident or anything like that. We’ll be monitoring and watching it closely.”
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