Wizards reserve point guard Ish Smith has suffered a right proximal quadriceps injury, and is expected to be sidelined for the next six to eight weeks, per an official team tweet. Washington will reassess his status after three weeks of rehabilitation.
Smith inked a two-year, $12MM contract with the Wizards in the summer of 2019. He will be an unrestricted free agent this summer. In 19 games with the Wizards this season, Smith is averaging 5.2 PPG, 4.7 APG, and 3.5 RPG across 20.6 MPG.
The 6’0″ veteran guard out of Wake Forest has already been unavailable for the past two Wizards games with the injury, as Fred Katz of The Athletic notes (Twitter link). In his stead, Raul Neto and Troy Brown have compensated for his minutes behind starter Russell Westbrook.
“It’s tough news,” head coach Scott Brooks said of the Smith injury, per Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington (Twitter link). “He does things that we’re not going to be able to replace in the second unit. He gives us that instant change of pace.”
Nothing against Ish, but this is good for the team. Neto is a better all around player and plays defense. He deserves the minutes. Ish is just fast.
Wizards’ D Rating is 13 points per possession better when Ish Smith is on the floor
NERD!!!
whew whuron, a stat in time. Offensively it comes to 3pt shooting (Neto) vs assists (Smith). Might depend on who plays vs starters and who gets garbage time, too, but Smith’s on/off stands out.
Isaiah Thomas is doing good things according to Joe Johnson?
Washington having a rough year with injuries and COVID…they are playing better as of late though.