Rockets forward Tari Eason has been diagnosed with a strained oblique and will miss four-to-six weeks, according to head coach Ime Udoka (Twitter link via Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle).
The 24-year-old sustained the injury in the first half of Friday’s win over Portland, with Houston initially describing it as a right hip contusion. Upon further evaluation, it turns out he suffered an oblique strain.
It’s a tough blow for Eason, who has battled multiple injuries the past few years. After appearing in all 82 regular season games as a rookie, Eason played just 22 games in 2023/24 and 57 last season.
The 17th overall pick of the 2022 draft, Eason has been a valuable contributor for the Rockets when healthy. He holds career averages of 10.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 22.8 minutes per game and was off to a solid start to the season prior to the injury, averaging 12.3 PPG and 5.3 RPG on .517/.531/.714 shooting through 10 games (24.5 MPG).
Until Dorian Finney-Smith returns from offseason ankle surgery, the Rockets won’t necessarily have a direct positional replacement for Eason. Udoka could give Reed Sheppard, who has been playing the best basketball of his young career of late, more minutes, perhaps sliding Amen Thompson up to the wing at times instead of playing point guard.
Veteran guard Aaron Holiday played a season-high 13 minutes — all in the second half — with Eason out and responded with 10 points.
Eason will be a restricted free agent in the summer if Houston gives him a qualifying offer.
DFS should be back soon, so not too concerned. Wouldn’t be surprised if he got activated today.
Never mind..apparently, he’s not practicing with the team yet.
Man, the injuries just keep coming this season – almost every team has a key player missing.
Same every year
Not like this season.
Part of the game, not worth talking about.
Comment only on my personal observations (eye test). I have watched enough games so far.
In West, only 4 teams are playoffs locks
Thunder, Nuggets, Spurs and Lakers.
Possible to Play-in Games
Warriors
Wolves
Rockets
Battling for 8th seed
Clippers
Blazers
Grizzlies
Warriors own the Spurs though. Try again.
Every year, the same story: “Warriors are washed” “Steph is done”. It’s never true. They would have won the title last year if not for Steph’s hamstring. OKC are pretenders and had an easy schedule and get too many ref calls. Last year and this year. They are the biggest frauds in NBA history.
I love your basketball knowledge.
Play the hits Davey!
Rockets look far more like a lock than the Spurs.
Tari gonna Tari
Rockets lead the L in scoring. Without a true PG. That a pretty good stat. KD is avg 35.3 mins, 25.1 pts,
4.6 reb, 3.2 asterisks, .88% FT ….
All the KD haters are hiding right now. Poking their KD dolls with ice picks.
If another injury happens, a trade will come
Might be a weird silver lining, but maybe Tari injury history allows them to extend him for less than they anticipated, and they end up with enough to extend Reed as well