Injury Notes: J. Williams, Haliburton, Porzingis, Beal
A Monday loss to Denver won’t hurt the Thunder in the standings at all, given that they still hold an 11-game lead on their Northwest rivals. But a loss that occurred in the second quarter of the game may be of greater concern for the Thunder — forward Jalen Williams sustained a right hip injury and was ruled out for the second half due to a hip strain, per Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
According to MacMahon, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault didn’t have any additional details on Williams’ injury after the game, simply telling reporters that the 23-year-old would be evaluated on Tuesday. Once that evaluation is completed, the team should have a better idea of how much time – if any – Williams will have to miss.
The 12th overall pick in the 2022 draft, Williams quickly emerged as a full-time starter and crucial contributor for the West’s top team. In 61 games this season, he’s averaging career highs of 21.3 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 5.3 assists per contest.
Here are a few more health-related updates from around the NBA:
- Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton missed a third consecutive game on Monday due to a left hip flexor strain, as Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star writes. “Tyrese is not ready,” head coach Rick Carlisle said during his pregame media session. “He’s out. He’s getting closer, he’s just not there yet. Not sure where this is going to be (Tuesday for the home game against the Bucks) but today is not the day.” Indiana is now 0-4 without Haliburton available this season, so the team will be hoping his absence doesn’t last much longer.
- Celtics big man Kristaps Porzingis has now been out for six consecutive games and nearly two full weeks due to illness. He took to Twitter on Monday to explain his lengthy layoff. “I have been dealing with some viral illness that we haven’t been able to fully identify yet,” Porzingis wrote. “I am recovering and getting better. But still working my way back to full strength to help this team. Thanks for support and I’m hoping for a healthy return soon.”
- Suns guard Bradley Beal was held out of the second end of a back-to-back set on Monday as the team continues to manage his calf, says Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. Beal missed five games in November with a left calf strain and two more in late February with left calf tightness. The club will continue to keep an eye on that issue going forward, Rankin adds, so it’s possible the veteran will continue to miss the occasional game down the stretch.
Bulls’ Josh Giddey Sprains Right Ankle
Bulls point guard Josh Giddey exited Monday’s win over Indiana with over seven minutes left in the fourth quarter after rolling his right ankle. The Bulls subsequently ruled him out for the rest of the contest due to an ankle sprain.
The injury occurred after a shot attempt near the basket when Giddey’s right foot landed on the foot of Pacers wing Ben Sheppard (Twitter video link). The Bulls guard immediately limped off the court and headed to the locker room.
The ankle is the same one that Giddey injured while playing for the Australian national team at the Olympics last summer. He was in a walking boot after the game, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network.
“He had a game a couple games ago where he kind of rolled it a little bit, but not too bad,” head coach Billy Donovan said on Monday night, per The Associated Press. “This one you could just tell, it was pretty painful the way he came up. So, obviously I’m concerned, but I just don’t know to what degree it is.”
Donovan said it may take “a day or two” before the Bulls have a clearer picture of the severity of the sprain.
It’s unfortunate timing for Giddey, who has been playing some of the best basketball of his career in recent weeks and scored a season-high 29 points on Monday. In nine games since the All-Star break, the 22-year-old has averaged 23.1 points, 10.9 rebounds, and 8.4 assists per game, with a .522/.525/.865 shooting line.
“He’s been really good at playing to his strengths,” Donovan said of his point guard, according to Annie Constabile of The Chicago Sun-Times. “He’s really balanced his ability to pass the ball, and then his ability to score. The shots he’s getting and generating, the shots he’s looking to take, are higher-quality shots for him.”
Giddey will be eligible for restricted free agency this summer. Although he got off to a shaky start in his first year as a Bull, scoring just 11.2 PPG on .432/.319/.744 shooting in his first 39 games, his uptick in production over the past month or two has increased his value heading into the offseason and has likely helped cement his place as a building block in Chicago going forward.
“I’ll let (the front office) handle that,” Donovan said of Giddey’s contract situation. “(I) certainly have had conversations with Josh about it. But I think the idea of trading for him and having him come here was going to be for him to be here on an extended period of time. … Everybody here feels good about Josh as a player — what he’s been able to do and hopefully what he can continue to do.”
Checking In On Traded 2025 First-Round Picks
With just five weeks left in the NBA’s regular season, we have a pretty good general sense of what the final standings will look like in 2024/25. While seeding in both the playoff race and the lottery standings remains up for grabs, there’s more clarity on which 2025 first-round picks traded with protections will actually change hands and which ones will fall within their protected range.
We’re checking in today on those picks, taking a closer look at which traded first-rounders will roll over to 2026, which ones will be conveyed, and which ones are still up in the air.
Let’s jump right in…
Traded 2025 first-round picks that will be protected:
- Wizards‘ pick traded to Knicks (top-10 protected).
- Jazz‘s pick traded to Thunder (top-10 protected).
- Hornets‘ pick traded to Kings (top-14 protected).
We’ll start with three of the most straightforward picks of the bunch. The Wizards (13-49), Jazz (15-48), and Hornets (15-48) currently own the three worst records in the NBA, which means there’s no chance of their traded first-round picks conveying this year.
If either the Wizards or the Jazz went on a hot streak in the season’s final weeks and finished as low as seventh in the lottery standings, there would be an ever-so-slight chance of that team’s pick falling outside of the top 10. But the odds of that happening are so minuscule that it’s not really worth discussing. There’s a very good chance that these three teams will all be picking in the top half of the lottery in June.
After they keep their first-rounders for 2025, the Wizards will instead owe their top-eight protected 2026 pick to the Knicks, the Jazz will owe their top-eight protected 2026 pick to the Thunder, and the Hornets will instead fulfill their obligation to the Kings by sending their 2026 and 2027 second-round picks.
Traded 2025 first-round picks unlikely to change hands:
- Trail Blazers‘ pick traded to Bulls (top-14 protected).
The Trail Blazers are four games behind No. 10 Dallas in the Western Conference standings, and with the injury-plagued Mavericks at risk of sinking like a stone, we can’t safely rule Portland out of the play-in race quite yet.
But the Blazers are a long shot for that spot, and likely wouldn’t win back-to-back play-in games on the road to make the playoffs even if they did come away with the No. 10 seed. So it seems pretty safe to assume Portland will hang onto its own first-round pick, even if we can’t guaranteed it quite yet.
Assuming the Blazers retain their first-rounder, they’ll instead owe their top-14 protected 2026 pick to the Bulls.
Traded 2025 first-round picks that will change hands:
- Suns‘ pick traded to Nets or Rockets (unprotected).
- Hawks‘ pick traded to Spurs (unprotected).
- Timberwolves‘ pick traded to Jazz (most/least favorable; unprotected).
- Bucks‘ pick traded to Nets (top-four protected) or Pelicans (5-30 protected).
- Knicks‘ pick traded to Nets (unprotected).
- Lakers‘ pick traded to Hawks (unprotected).
- Nuggets‘ pick traded to Magic (top-five protected).
- Cavaliers‘ pick traded to Suns (most/least favorable; unprotected).
Seven of these eight picks are unprotected and the eighth – the Nuggets’ first-rounder – has such light protection that there’s no chance it won’t change hands. Still, there are a few conditions worth noting.
The Suns’ first-rounder, for instance, will technically be sent to Brooklyn, but the Rockets will have the ability to swap their own first-round selection for that pick and will almost certainly do so, since they’re currently ahead of Phoenix in the standings by 9.5 games. In that scenario, Houston will end up with Phoenix’s pick (currently projected to be No. 12, per Tankathon) and the Nets would get the Rockets’ pick (No. 23 right now).
The Jazz will receive the more favorable of the Timberwolves’ and Cavaliers’ first-round picks, while the Suns receive the least favorable of the two. That means the Minnesota first-rounder (currently No. 19) will go to Utah and the Cleveland first-rounder (No. 30) will go to Phoenix, since the Cavs are currently 18 games ahead of the Wolves in the standings.
The Bucks’ pick, meanwhile, will go to Brooklyn if it lands between 5-30 or to New Orleans if it ends up in the top four. Milwaukee should comfortably earn a playoff spot in the East, so there’s essentially no scenario where the Pelicans end up with that pick, which projects to be No. 22 as of today. The Bucks will convey that pick to the Nets and their obligation to New Orleans will be extinguished.
The other picks are relatively straightforward. The Hawks’ pick headed to the Spurs figures to end up at No. 15 or 16 if Atlanta makes the playoffs or in the 10-12 range if they don’t. Of course, there’s always a chance it could move into the top four if the Hawks are in the lottery, which is a scenario San Antonio will be rooting for.
The Knicks’ pick going to Brooklyn, the Lakers’ pick going to Atlanta, and the Nuggets’ pick going to Orlando currently project to be 25th, 26th, and 27th overall, respectively.
Traded 2025 first-round picks likely to change hands:
- Kings‘ pick traded to Hawks (top-12 protected).
- Pistons‘ pick traded to Timberwolves (top-13 protected).
- Clippers‘ pick traded to Thunder via swap rights (unprotected).
- Warriors‘ pick traded to Heat (top-10 protected).
- Grizzlies‘ pick traded to Wizards (top-14 protected).
- Thunder‘s pick traded to Clippers via swap rights (unprotected).
The Kings aren’t a lock to make the playoffs, but they increasingly look like a pretty safe bet to at least qualify for the play-in tournament. In that scenario, they’d either clinch a playoff berth or end up at No. 13 or No. 14 in the lottery standings, meaning the only outcome that would prevent the Hawks from receiving their pick would be if the pick jumps into the top four on lottery day — the odds of that happening would be extremely slim.
The Pistons haven’t clinched a playoff berth yet, but they have a five-game lead on the No. 7 Hawks for a top-six seed, so it’s a pretty safe bet their first-round pick will be sent to the Timberwolves, finally freeing Detroit of that obligation — that first-rounder has landed in its protected range three years in a row.
The Thunder technically have the ability to swap their own first-round pick for either the Rockets’ or the Clippers’ first-rounder. Houston has a 4.5-game lead in the standings on L.A., so Oklahoma City is more likely to use that swap on the Clippers’ pick (as of today, that would mean moving up from No. 29 to No. 17), but it’s not set in stone yet.
If the Clippers pass the Rockets in the standings, it would actually be bad news for Brooklyn, since after the Thunder swap with Houston, the Rockets could use their swap rights (outlined in the section above) to send OKC’s pick to Brooklyn for the Suns’ first-rounder.
Finally, there’s still a non-zero possibility that the Warriors and/or Grizzlies drop into play-in territory and miss the playoffs, so we can’t say with certainty yet that the Heat and Wizards will receive those first-rounders. But both picks are likely to convey, and Miami is in especially good shape to get Golden State’s selection even if the Dubs end up in the lottery — the pick would have to jump into the top four in that scenario for the Warriors to keep it.
Traded 2025 first-round picks still very much up in the air:
- Sixers‘ pick traded to Thunder (top-six protected).
- Heat‘s pick traded to Thunder (top-14 protected).
These are the two picks whose odds of conveying remain closest to 50/50.
As of today, the Sixers have the NBA’s seventh-worst record, which would mean they’d have a 31.9% chance of hanging onto their pick. But they’re only a half-game ahead of Brooklyn in the standings and one game ahead of Toronto. If the 76ers finish with the sixth-worst record, their odds of keeping their pick would increase to 45.8%. With the fifth-worst record, that number would jump to 63.9%. So this one will come down to lottery night.
If Philadelphia’s pick lands in its protected range, the club would instead owe its top-four protected 2026 first-rounder to Oklahoma City.
As for the Heat, they remain firmly in the mix of an uninspiring play-in race in the East, with a 29-34 record that’s good for the No. 9 seed. If they’re able to earn a playoff spot via the play-in tournament, they’d send their pick to the Thunder. If not, they’ll keep it and would owe their unprotected 2026 first-rounder to OKC.
Nuggets’ Cancar Cleared To Return, Discusses Knee Surgery
Nuggets forward/center Vlatko Cancar, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in the fall, was cleared to return earlier this week and was technically active in Denver’s games on Wednesday and Friday, though he didn’t play at all.
According to Bennett Durando of The Denver Post, after Cancar injured his knee in November, he spent two weeks seeking out medical opinions and had multiple surgical options to consider, including waiting until the end of the season to go under the knife or undergoing a cartilage transplant, which would have been a more serious procedure with a longer recovery time.
“To me, (the cartilage transplant) was never an option because it’s a longer period. You have to rehab for 12 months,” said Cancar, who missed the 2023/24 season with a torn ACL in the same knee. “We kind of sat down and talked this through, the whole training staff. … The coaches and everybody knew what I’ve been through before, so they were like, ‘Whatever you do, we’re going to support you.’
“And then after, I think it was just an easy decision for me (to have surgery immediately), the reason being I knew I was going to get back healthy during the season rather than the offseason. Because back home, you’re not really in focus mode that much.”
As Durando explains, the opportunity to recovery from surgery while having access to the Nuggets training staff appealed to Cancar, who wouldn’t have had the same resources over the summer in his home country of Slovenia. The 27-year-old also liked the idea of addressing the issue sooner rather than later and returning before the end of the season so he could be available for the playoffs.
According to Cancar, his surgeon discovered some lingering scar tissue from his ACL injury during the procedure, which involved shaving off a bit of cartilage.
“When I was playing, I didn’t really notice it,” Cancar said. “But once he went in, he was like, it took him more time to get rid of the scar tissue than actually to do the cartilage shave. … It’s a good thing and a bad thing that I went under the knife, because he cleared a lot of scar tissue, but at the same time set me back a little bit more.
“Everything went smooth. I wanted to be back before, but I think (the team) said to be a little bit more patient and give me a little bit more time. Now I just have to build tolerance, because not pain, but soreness and stiffness now is going to be there a long time.”
Cancar wasn’t a regular part of the Nuggets’ rotation prior to the injury, logging just 34 minutes in four appearances off the bench. But he had a couple solid outings in mid-November, including scoring five points and grabbing four rebounds in 11 minutes in the game in which his injury occurred.
As Durando writes, Cancar will likely remain a “deep-bench” reserve for Denver as long as the team stays healthy, as reflected by his two DNP-CDs this week.
Lakers Notes: Hachimura, Hayes, Doncic, Redick
Lakers forward Rui Hachimura missed a fifth consecutive game on Saturday due to patellar tendinopathy affecting his left knee, but he’s doing “well,” according to head coach J.J. Redick, who told reporters that Hachimura is going through the return-to-play process and doing more on-court work (Twitter link via Khobi Price of the Southern California News Group).
The plan, Redick added on Saturday, is for Hachimura to be reevaluated in about a week.
Meanwhile, the Lakers were also without center Jaxson Hayes on Saturday, which is a more significant loss than it would have been earlier in the season. Hayes had been Los Angeles’ starting center for each of the team’s past 16 games following Anthony Davis‘ injury and the subsequent trade sending him to Dallas.
Hayes, who was listed as out due to a right knee contusion, was replaced by forward Jarred Vanderbilt in the starting five. Redick said the club has been monitoring swelling in Hayes’ knee, but added that he doesn’t believe the injury is “anything serious” and conveyed optimism that the big man’s absence won’t last too long, per Dave McMenamin of ESPN (Twitter link).
Here’s more on the Lakers:
- Luka Doncic was shocked when he first learned of the trade sending him from Dallas to Los Angeles, but after over a month with the Lakers, he’s feeling more comfortable in his new NBA home, having recently moved into a leased house in L.A., according to Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter video link). “He’s felt more and more appreciative and comfortable with how the Lakers have surrounded him with support, with inclusion in the process of everything,” Charania said on NBA Countdown. “This has been a true partnership that they’re trying to develop, and that means a lot for his long-term future for the Lakers.” Doncic will be extension-eligible this offseason and the Lakers are expected to offer him a maximum-salary deal at that time.
- The Lakers’ trade for Doncic earned the organization the Alpha Award for Transaction of the Year at this year’s Sloan Sports Analytics Conference, tweets McMenamin. As McMenamin points out, the Celtics won that award a year ago for their acquisition of Kristaps Porzingis.
- In an interesting article for The Athletic, Jovan Buha takes a look at the connections between Redick and Celtics head coach Joe Mazzulla, who offered Redick a spot as an assistant on his staff on Boston before his first year at the helm in September 2022, then again in March 2023. Redick wasn’t ready at that time to get into coaching, but he made it clear there’s significant mutual respect between him and Mazzulla. “When I was going through this process, he, along with a few other coaches in the NBA, were really helpful,” Redick said. “Not just in preparing for an interview, but just really helping me understand what this was and what it required.”
- In case you missed it late on Saturday night, LeBron James is being evaluated after sustaining a groin injury in Saturday’s loss to Boston.
Rockets’ Thompson Injures Ankle, Will Undergo MRI
Rockets wing Amen Thompson, who turned his left ankle during the fourth quarter of the team’s blowout win over New Orleans on Saturday, will undergo an MRI to assess the severity of the injury, a source tells Kelly Iko of The Athletic (Twitter link).
The injury occurred as Thompson drove into the lane and attempted a pull-up jumper. His left foot came down on Pelicans center Karlo Matkovic‘s foot when he landed, causing his ankle to roll (Twitter video link via ClutchFans).
According to Iko, Thompson was seen wearing a walking boot and using crutches as he left the arena, though head coach Ime Udoka told reporters, including Sam Warren of The Houston Chronicle, that he didn’t have any news on the injury after the game.
“Saw the replay, looked like he rolled (his ankle),” Udoka said. “Kind of went up under (Matkovic) on a jump shot and landed on his foot. But no update.”
The fourth overall pick in the 2023 draft, Thompson has been enjoying a breakout year for the Rockets. In 60 games (33 starts), the 22-year-old has averaged 14.0 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks in 32.5 minutes per game, with a .553 FG% and strong, versatile defense. He opened the season with the second unit, but has started every game he has played since January 5.
If Thompson’s injury causes him to miss time, it will hurt a little more because the Rockets were up by 33 points when it happened and were in the process of subbing out their regulars. Thompson, who was just one rebound away from recording a triple-double, was the only starter still on the floor after Dillon Brooks and Tari Eason came out with 6:00 left to play.
Thompson’s injury occurred on Houston’s next offensive possession. He was subbed out at the 5:31 mark and immediately limped to the locker room under his own power (Twitter video link via ClutchFans).
Disabled Player Exceptions For 2024/25 Expire On Monday
A series of disabled player exceptions granted to teams earlier in the 2024/25 season will expire on Monday if they go unused. The annual deadline to use a disabled player exception is March 10.
We go into more detail on who qualifies for disabled player exceptions and how exactly they work in our glossary entry on the subject. But essentially, if a team has a player suffer a season-ending injury prior to January 15, the exception gives that team the opportunity to add an injury replacement by either signing a player to a one-year contract, trading for a player in the final year of his contract, or placing a waiver claim on a player in the final year of his contract.
Here are the teams whose DPEs will expire if they aren’t used on by the end of the day on Monday, per Eric Pincus of Sports Business Classroom:
- Charlotte Hornets: $6,512,625 (Grant Williams) (story)
- Orlando Magic: $5,500,000 (Moritz Wagner)
- Utah Jazz: $2,924,340 (Taylor Hendricks) (story)
- Indiana Pacers: $2,217,691 (Isaiah Jackson) (story)
- Philadelphia 76ers: $2,010,180 (Jared McCain)
- Denver Nuggets: $1,532,820 (DaRon Holmes) (story)
The Pacers were granted a second disabled player exception worth $1,118,846 for James Wiseman‘s season-ending injury, but forfeited it when they dealt Wiseman to Toronto at the trade deadline.
Since the trade deadline has passed and no players are currently on waivers, there’s essentially just one way left for those teams with disabled player exceptions to use them: signing a free agent. However, that seems unlikely, given that there are no free agents on the buyout market who would warrant a contract worth more than the veteran’s minimum.
In other words, these exceptions will, in all likelihood, expire on Monday without being used. Assuming that happens, no team will have used a disabled player exception this season.
Disabled player exceptions have never been used with much frequency, but the fact that mid-level and bi-annual exceptions could be used for the first time this season to acquire players via trade or waiver claim has further reduced their importance.
Southwest Notes: Fox, Rockets, Jackson, Jensen
De’Aaron Fox has been playing this season with a dislocated left pinky finger, according to Mike Monroe of The Athletic, who says that the Spurs guard is expected to undergo surgery sooner or later to address the injury. With San Antonio falling out of play-in contention, that procedure could even happen before the end of the season so that the recovery process doesn’t extend too far into the offseason, Monroe notes.
“Oh, obviously, for me and (general manager Brian Wright), we’ve talked about the surgery thing,” Fox said. “At some point, I’m going to have to get it, but we’ll see where we are before that comes.”
Speaking to reporters on Friday in Sacramento after a loss to his former team, Fox pointed to March 17 as a possible date for the procedure, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link). The Spurs will be in Los Angeles at that time for a rescheduled game vs. the Lakers and Fox said he’ll have the injury evaluated by a specialist in L.A. during that trip.
“The surgery may or may not happen that day,” he said.
Here’s more from around the Southwest:
- Veteran center Steven Adams has served as a backup to Rockets starter Alperen Sengun for most of the season, but the two big men shared the court for seven minutes against New Orleans on Thursday and Houston outscored the Pelicans 23-5 during that time, per Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). “It’s good because it’s something new,” Adams said after the win. “It’s just engaging. Also, a lot of my career has been spent that way as well, playing double-big lineup anyway. It’s just good, just figuring it out and I feel like we play with each other pretty well, just gravitate the defense. In a sort of way it’s a different look, so I think it’s a pretty useful tool going forward.”
- In a Rockets-centric mailbag for The Athletic, Kelly Iko takes a look at Houston’s cap situation going forward, explains why Cam Whitmore is out of the rotation, and considers what the team’s optimal starting lineup would look like. Even though Amen Thompson has thrived in the starting five, Iko thinks it might benefit the Rockets as a whole to move him back to the bench, with Jabari Smith reclaiming his starting spot.
- Santi Aldama returned to action on Friday for the Grizzlies following a two-game absence due to a right calf strain and Jaren Jackson Jr., who has missed two games with a left ankle sprain, might not be too far behind him. According to Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian (Twitter link), Jackson was on the floor for the team’s shootaround on Friday morning, dribbling and getting up shots. The team said on Tuesday that the big man is considered “week to week.”
- Although Mavericks assistant Alex Jenson has accepted the head coaching job at the University of Utah, he’ll finish out the season in Dallas before officially transitioning into that new position with the Utes, he tells NBA insider Marc Stein (Twitter link).
The Non-Blockbuster Deadline Deals Making An Impact
The NBA's 2025 trade deadline has the potential to be the most impactful in recent memory, primarily because of two trades: the Lakers' acquisition of Luka Doncic and the Warriors' deal for Jimmy Butler.
The Lakers are 9-2 since Doncic made his Los Angeles debut and have moved from fifth place in the Western Conference standings up to the No. 2 spot. Golden State has been just as hot, going 10-1 in games Butler has played over the past month and rising from 10th in the conference to sixth. Suddenly, two teams that looked like they'd be lucky to win a playoff series this spring are playing like legitimate contenders to come out of the West.
Outside of those two trades, there's at least one more you could absolutely call a blockbuster -- the three-team deal that sent De'Aaron Fox to the Spurs and Zach LaVine to the Kings may not have the same sort of short-term effect on the Western Conference playoff picture, but Fox's presence in San Antonio alongside Victor Wembanyama figures to be a major factor in future seasons.
I'd add one more deal to this list of pre-deadline "blockbusters" by including the four-team trade that saw Khris Middleton head from the Bucks to the Wizards, with Kyle Kuzma going in the other direction.
Classifying it as a blockbuster may be generous, given Middleton's recent injury history and Kuzma's down year, but Middleton is a three-time All-Star, Kuzma averaged over 21 points per game in each of the past two seasons, and both players have won championships as top-three scorers on their respective teams. A trade that includes both of them is a significant one.
Beyond those four deals, there were 16 others completed during the week leading up to the trade deadline. Many of those have rightly flown under the radar -- the Hornets and Thunder swapping 2029 and 2030 second-round picks, for instance, won't have any effect on the rest of the 2024/25 season.
But there are a handful of deals that have already made a real impact in the month since the February 6 trade deadline and have been somewhat overshadowed by the Doncic and Butler mega-deals. We want to shine a light on several of those trades today, highlighting the best and worst of them.
Paul George To Miss At Least Two More Games With Groin Injury
Sixers forward Paul George will miss at least two more games due to the left groin ailment that sidelined him on Thursday in Boston, as Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com relays. Head coach Nick Nurse updated reporters on George’s status after the team’s practice on Saturday.
The news means George will be out for Sunday’s home game vs. Utah and Monday’s road game in Atlanta. The earliest he could potentially return would be on Wednesday in Toronto, which will be a crucial game for lottery positioning — the Sixers and Raptors are currently separated by a half-game in the standings.
George, who was listed as out on Thursday due to left groin soreness, also missed Monday’s game with the same injury designation. He played nearly 30 minutes on Wednesday in Minnesota and scored just seven points on 3-of-11 shooting, though he contributed six assists and a pair of steals and was a +7 in a game the Sixers lost by 14 points.
With Joel Embiid having been ruled out for the season and the Sixers’ front office perhaps more focused on keeping its top-six protected first-round pick than claiming the Eastern Conference’s final play-in spot, it wouldn’t be a surprise if George continues to miss time during the season’s home stretch. He’s in the first season of a four-year, maximum-salary contract, so the organization will probably prioritize getting him fully healthy for next fall rather than getting the most out of him in the final weeks of what increasingly looks like a lost season.
Philadelphia’s other star, Tyrese Maxey, has been sidelined for the team’s past two games with what the team is calling a lower back sprain. Maxey did some individual work on Saturday, but appears likely to remain on the shelf for Sunday’s matchup with Utah, per Aaronson. His status beyond Sunday is still up in the air.