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.”
Warriors do not look like a good team this year. I don’t see them going very far in the playoffs. It might be best to miss the playoffs and get into the lottery. Only if Bob Meyers moves on and they can draft somebody who helps them next year.
If the Warriors miss the playoffs they will not be drafting someone to help them next year. They will draft someone to be part of a re-build. The time to draft someone to help them immediately was 2-3 years ago. Think how much better this current team would be had they drafted “low ceiling” NBA ready guys Tyrese Halliburton, Franz Wagner, and Trey Murphy instead of Wiseman, Kuminga, and Moody.
Warriors miss Wiggins
Wiseman was a disaster and no teams wanted to trade for Moody at the deadline. :(
Is it just me or are there a lot of ankle sprains/injuries going on? Makes you wonder…just sayin
What is your theory? I have a few…
Could be nothing, or coincidence, but it could also be something else that sports-writers & publishers will not warn the public of.
Not ever. “The News” will soon be thought of as a television program, no different than a sitcom. Already is in many circles.
Its replacement will be truth & fact.
Gonna make people cry & whine as they find out how dumbed-down, and spoon fed they are, but they will get over it quickly.
I’d rather not put my theory out there just yet, not sure who is reading ifykwim…
It’s just you. You are a kook conspiracy theorist.
Said the CIA
The fact that you don’t realize he is trolling is rather amazing.
Players already stealing KD’s latest move.
The amount of ankle injuries this year is reminding me of 2017 mlb, where everyone had hamstring injuries. Turned out there was nothing to it, it was just a blip. Hammys dropped back to normal rates the next year.
Pacers remind me of Raptors — what is the plan? Seem determined to finish as close to the middle as possible.
Lot of talent, good coaching…I suppose Pacers are a bit more raw. Maybe a high scoring fwd (not Kuzma). LaVine would be an interesting target if I trusted him at all. Same for Porzingis.
How do you improve the Pacers? Is it just waiting game for the young guys? I’m inclined to think they need another superstar.
You know who’d be perfect — Sabonis lol
Brunson should wait to play until after the road trip. He’s too important to rush back
No Brunson …… no closer. Sacramento was a winnable gm. Get healthy Jalen
How weird that Kum did that 1 day after KD did the same?