Raptors rookie Ja’Kobe Walter, who missed the preseason and the first five games of the regular season with a sprained right AC joint, has re-sprained that joint and will be reevaluated in a week, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca.
It’s not all bad news on the injury front for Toronto though. Rookie forward Jonathan Mogbo is listed as probable to play on Saturday after exiting Wednesday’s game with a hip pointer, while starting point guard Immanuel Quickley has been upgraded to questionable after missing the last eight games with a pelvic contusion (Twitter link via Murphy).
There’s optimism Quickley will be back in action this weekend, either on Saturday vs. the Clippers or Sunday vs. the Lakers, tweets Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Pelicans star Zion Williamson was ruled out for Friday’s game against Orlando about 90 minutes before tip-off (Twitter link via the team). As Christian Clark of NOLA.com notes (via Twitter), Williamson has now missed three of the team’s past four games with three different injury designations. He was sidelined by right hamstring tightness on Sunday, right thigh soreness on Monday, and left hamstring tightness today. With Zion out, the injury-plagued Pelicans are running out a starting lineup of Jose Alvarado, Brandon Boston, Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, and Yves Missi alongside Brandon Ingram, tweets Clark.
- After leaving Wednesday’s win due to hip and hamstring discomfort, Grizzlies star Ja Morant will miss Friday’s contest vs. Washington due to right hip soreness. The point guard will undergo more imaging on Saturday to assess the severity of his injury and determine a return timeline, head coach Taylor Jenkins told reporters today (Twitter link via Michael Wallace of Grizzlies.com).
- Warriors guard De’Anthony Melton, who has missed five consecutive games due to a low back strain, has been cleared to return for Friday’s showdown vs. the 9-0 Cavaliers, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic (Twitter link). Draymond Green (right knee contusion) and Brandin Podziemski (illness) will also be available for Golden State, giving the team a fully healthy roster (Twitter link via Slater).
- As expected, Devin Vassell remains on track to make his season debut for the Spurs on Saturday after nine games while recovering from foot surgery. The team has listed him as probable to play vs. Utah, according to Tom Orsborn of The San Antonio Express-News (Twitter link).
Wait Zion is injured? No way!
Another nice test for the Warriors tonight. How will they do against the Twin Towers plus that dynamic backcourt? Let’s see how tenacious this Golden State Defense really is.
With Podski and Melton back in the lineup, hopefully Moses Moody’s minutes go down to, uh.., ZERO as he tidies up his locker in preparation for a trade in February. Doing so will give him plenty of time to “jog” to the new destination and make it by the deadline. Then he can go 80% for his new team and hope and pray for a new contract in 3 years.
Too bad he never really got a chance with the Warriors. I mean, they don’t ever look at him in practice, he never gets to start any games when guys are injured, and they discourage him from shooting the long ball more than 4 times a game. It’s just unfair and hopefully he gets a real chance with his new team. Maybe they’ll just start him and play him 35 minutes regardless of his inability to affect the game in any positive way. He can just stand in the corner with his hands at his chest waiting for a pass that would have been there 5 seconds earlier if he had sprinted to the spot BEFORE THE DEFENSE COULD SET UP !!! <- said with a Nicolas Cage higher volume voice.
Nah keep Moody, keep everyone, this is gunna be a year where Moody will get plenty of chances, and he’s still very young. Still funny he got more mins than Hield a couple times already!
Gary at some point you just gotta cut this hating crud and stop being so critical of a 7-1 team, we are great as I predicted, 65+ wins incoming, etc. Just enjoy it! This game is gunna be fun but if Dubs win and then beat the Thunder, then they’re getting that #1 seed, easily. Strength! In! Numbers!
Well the Warriors got smoked tonight. Let’s see how they do in OKC in a couple days. Hope they regroup and can pull out a nice Road win. That would definitely be a successful trip.
Since when has strength in numbers ever lead to a championship winning team? Depth is good for a strong regular season performance, but you need more top end talent (while not completely gutting said depth) to compete in the playoffs. A fine line to walk.
Zion may never be right for a full season, or even partial seasons. Pelicans need to consider cutting him loose, arguably this season.
Franchise players have to play to be franchise players, otherwise they are differently-limited versions of Greg Oden, for the archetype, or of many other notable injury-dominated players.
Yes it’s too bad with Zion because he is so gifted athletically. But he’s on the Shelf so much he doesn’t get a chance to work on refining his game.
He’s sidelined too often and then the first bit of opportunity to run, he’s inserted into games. Then over the summer I’m sure he’s giving his body a break to heal up.
His current game is all muscle and athleticism and run people over or use his leaping ability. That’s good for 30 a game many nights.
But imagine if he stayed healthy his entire career and was able to work on stuff instead of rehabbing. He could be ranked among the all-time greats with that body and natural ability. I mean, he can already shoot the three and that’s without much practice LOL he’s just so good already.
Yea cut him loose.please cut him loose he’s another Greg Oden
Its not THAT bad, jeez. I beg of you to lay off the hyperbole and overreacting