Dylan Harper suffered a left calf injury Sunday night in the Spurs‘ loss at Phoenix, according to Michael C. Wright of ESPN. The injury occurred when Harper tried to contest a dunk by Nick Richards midway through the second quarter. He grabbed at his leg after the play while grimacing in pain and was declared out of the game at halftime.
Coach Mitch Johnson wasn’t able to provide an update on Harper’s condition after the game, but the rookie guard was using crutches and wearing a walking boot as he left the arena.
“I believe it’s something with this calf, but I don’t have anything as of yet,” Johnson told reporters.
Harper, the No. 2 pick in this year’s draft, is off to a promising start through his first six games. Even with Sunday’s abbreviated appearance, he’s averaging 14.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.8 assists per night with .500/.357/.833 shooting numbers. He’s played an important role in helping San Antonio get off to a 5-1 start and has been seeing 23.3 minutes per game off the bench. He had 12 points in 11 minutes against the Suns before leaving.
Sunday’s injury could be the second significant one for Harper in the past two months. He suffered a partially torn ligament in his left thumb during the offseason and underwent surgery in early September.
“Yeah, I hope the best for him, for sure,” Victor Wembanyama. “We’ve seen great things from him. It’s actually been hard to believe how good he’s played. But it happens. We have to be able to deal with injuries. But at the same time, we’re going to get some guys back.”
Although the Spurs have been one of the NBA’s best teams during the first two weeks of the season, they’re starting to get a lengthy injury list. De’Aaron Fox hasn’t played yet due to a hamstring issue, and Jeremy Sochan is still recovering from a calf injury he suffered during the summer. Luke Kornet (ankle), Kelly Olynyk (heel) and Lindy Waters III (eye) were all unavailable on Sunday, but they traveled with the team for the start of a two-game road trip.
Johnson said Harper’s injury won’t affect the timeline for those five players, but he indicated that some of them may be available for Wednesday’s game against the Lakers, writes Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News.
“I think we’re optimistic. There’s two more days,” he said. “Again, it’s that funny part of the schedule, so you have almost 72 hours and everybody is trending the right way. But one person’s status won’t affect anybody else’s. But guys have been getting closer and closer, so we’ll just have to see how it breaks in the next couple days.”
This team is going to be another dynasty again if they can keep everyone. Harper looks promising and at some point will need to start, Castle is scratching the surface of All-Star status, Vassell is a solid role/3&D player, Wemby is a unicorn, and Fox is…Fox. Plus they have Atlanta’s pick next draft. Although they signed Fox long term, they’d be best served moving him in a deal for a F and hope that the picks lands them somewhere at the top. Things are looking good for the Spurs.
SPURS FO so omniscient that they signed up Fox for back-up PG duties. Lol
They don’t need fox honestly. Looks like Harper and Castle have a higher ceiling than Fox. Not saying Fox isn’t good but I just think they don’t need him at this point and will probably trade him out in the next year or two. Castle looks really good but he looked good last year and just being honest every point guard that plays with Chris Paul seems to take a leap and a jump.
I think castle is a shooting guard who can play make. He is averaging 4.8 turnovers per game. I think sliding over and having fox at the pg will help him even more. A little less responsibility and they are even faster. Harper reminds me of a young harden where he plays well as a pg but also can play sg off the pg. Plus vassell can play sf/sg and take some minutes from champangie. Plus injuries always happen so having depth this year is definitely good. If they didn’t they probably have a few more losses.
Hope it’s nothing major, he was having a great start
Gonna see what this team is really made of. After the sluggish game against the suns lets see how they bounce back against the lakers. Hoping wemby really responds. Good news a lot of rotation players should be back really soon and this team should get a boost. Hope Harper’s injury is minor.
What did I say about playing 19 yr olds. Harper is NBA size not NBA ready. Have to ease these players in. Like QBs in NFL. This is a big level up. You don’t beed to work them from beginning. This is an 82 gm season. Most of these 19yr olds never played more than 32 gms in a season. So now you think they can just step into NBA and play. Play 82 games. What’s the rush. You want them to play major mins. Play in G-league
Good for him for playing defense. Getting injured prob helps ease him into the league like Holmgren.