Milwaukee Bucks guard Eric Bledsoe sustained a right leg injury during Friday night’s 127-114 road win against the Grizzlies in Memphis.
An MRI and subsequent examination revealed that Bledsoe’s injury is a right fibula avulsion fracture.
Bledsoe is expected to be sidelined for approximately two weeks.
According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Bledsoe was hurt in the third quarter of the Bucks’ 127-114 victory over the Grizzlies in Memphis on Friday night. He tried to sneak behind Grizzlies center Jonas Valunciunas for a steal, but ran into teammate Wesley Matthews. Both players hit the floor, but Bledsoe went back to the locker room and didn’t return.”
In 26 games (all starts) for the Bucks this season, Bledsoe is averaging 15.0 points, 4.9 rebounds and a team-high 5.7 assists in 26.6 minutes per game.
There is good news on the horizon for the Kings. Here’s the Sacramento Bee reporting:
Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox has been sidelined for five weeks with a severely sprained ankle, but he thinks he will be back in the lineup soon — very soon.
Fox said he expects to return sometime next week, perhaps as early as Tuesday when the Kings visit the Charlotte Hornets. He believes he will be back before the team returns from a four-game road trip to play the Houston Rockets on Dec. 23 and called the Dec. 26 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves a “worst-case scenario.”
More from the Bee:
Fox averaged 18.2 points, 7.0 assists and 3.4 rebounds in nine games before he got hurt. He said he has been ramping up workouts in recent days, going hard in 3-on-3 and 5-on-5 drills at the team’s practice facility.
Fox is one of the league’s most exciting young guards. This will be a boost for the Kings, but also for fans of anyone who enjoys fun basketball.
The Atlanta Hawks today waived guard Tyrone Wallace.
Claimed off waivers by the Hawks on October 23, Wallace appeared in 14 games, averaging 2.9 points and 1.6 rebounds in 11.5 minutes per outing.
The Hawks are just 6-20 this season. They’re getting big play from point guard Trae Young, and 16.4 points per game on good shooting from forward Jabari Parker, but big-man John Collins has only played five games due to a long suspension, small forward De’Andre Hunter is scoring 12.8 PPG but on just 40.6% shooting, and no one else on the team is scoring in double digits.
But as much as a problem offense is so far this season for the Hawks, their team defense is even worse, and through yesterday’s games is ranked 28th in the league.
The good news is, Collins will be back. And it’ll be worth seeing how they play a week or so later as they work him back into the mix.
Charlotte Hornets rookie forward PJ Washington has suffered a fractured fifth finger on his right hand. The injury occurred during the fourth quarter of last night’s 83-73 win over the Chicago Bulls.
Washington will officially miss tomorrow’s game against the Indiana Pacers, and according to a report from ESPN.com today “is expected to be sidelined through Christmas… the Hornets play five games in that stretch.”
Washington was selected 12th overall in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Charlotte Hornets. In his first season with the Hornets, the rookie forward has averaged 12.3 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 0.9 blocks in 29.4 minutes per game over the course of 28 appearances (all starts). The Kentucky product ranks fifth among all rookies in points (343), seventh in three-pointers made (39), first in rebounds (147) and first in blocks (26) this season.
According to the Charlotte Observer, “after a relatively healthy first six weeks of the season, the Hornets have seen injuries pile up lately. Marvin Williams and Nic Batum, the two most experienced players on the second unit, both missed the past two games. Williams is out again Sunday with a sore right knee. Batum is listed as questionable with a sore left hand; he suffered a broken middle finger on that hand in the season opener against the Bulls.”
The Charlotte Hornets today released the following statement on the passing of Carl Scheer.
“The Hornets organization mourns the loss of Carl Scheer. As our first president and general manager, he built the franchise from the ground up and laid the foundation for our city’s love affair with the Hornets. Carl was a true pioneer whose innovative ideas such as the slam dunk contest changed the NBA. His contributions to professional basketball in the state of North Carolina are unmatched, having led not only the Hornets but also the ABA’s Carolina Cougars, and his knowledge and love of the game will be missed.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with his wife Marsha, son Bob, daughter Lauren, and his entire family.”
Carl Scheer, the first general manager in Charlotte Hornets history and the inventor of the slam-dunk contest, died Friday in Charlotte. He was 82.
Bob Scheer said his father passed away one day short of what would have been his 83rd birthday.
Scheer was one of the primary authors of the Hornets’ inaugural season in 1988-89, a spectacular success still remembered nostalgically among the team’s longtime fans.
During a sports-centric career that spanned 50 years, Scheer also served as director of two minor-league hockey teams in the Carolinas — the Charlotte Checkers and the Greenville (S.C.) Growl. He also worked as GM of the ABA’s Carolina Cougars and shepherded the construction of a 14,000-seat multi-purpose arena in downtown Greenville, S.C.
Yesterday in Mexico City as part of the NBA’s Mexico City Games 2019 mini-trip, the Pistons lost to the Mavericks, 122-111. Detroit center Andre Drummond put up nice numbers, shooting 10 of 14 for 23 points, 15 rebounds and three steals. But he almost didn’t play, due to an allergic reaction to avocados, served at a restaurant that needs to review its ability to act as a responsible establishment. Here’s the Detroit News reporting:
“I went to a restaurant and asked for some ceviche and I know people put avocadoes in ceviche. I asked the lady four times and my friend knows Spanish and I had him ask her too,” Drummond told The Detroit News. “She said there wasn’t any avocado in there. I said, ‘Are you sure?’ before she brought out the food.
“The food comes out and my plate is green. I asked my friend: ‘Ask her again if there’s avocado in there because my plate is green.’ I wasn’t trying to eat it if there’s avocado in there. She said no.
“I started devouring it and I get to almost the bottom of the plate and I see a big strip of avocado in there. Three or four minutes later, my throat starts to close, everything starts to itch, and my eyes start watering.”
I wouldn’t mind learning the name of that restaurant. To avoid ever eating there.
It’s fortunate that Drummond quickly overcame the allergy.
The Wizards are 7-16 so far this season, playing without John Wall, and have some changes to make if they want to head in a playoff-contending direction.
But there have been some early-season bright spots, especially one by the name of Davis Bertans.
The highlight of the Wizards’ season so far is definitely the emergence of Davis Bertans, whom the Wizards acquired over the summer in the NBA trade equivalent of a casino heist. Somehow, after only giving up the Euro-stashed Aaron White, they brought in what has so far been the best three-point shooter in the league this season. General manager Tommy Sheppard hadn’t even had the interim tag taken away when he made the move in July, which should be a very good sign of things to come.
Bertans is their second-leading scorer with 15.7 points per game and is shooting an absurd 46.5 percent from three. He has doubled his attempts from last season with the Spurs, from 4.4 to 8.6 per game, and somehow his percentage has gone up. That’s unheard of.
Bertans has been so good that it is inevitable the Wizards will field calls leading up to the Feb. trade deadline from contenders looking to add a shooter. But should they part ways with a guy who can shoot this well at 6-foot-10? Maybe if they were undergoing a long-term rebuild it would make sense, but team chairman Ted Leonsis doesn’t want it to take long and neither does Bradley Beal. Bertans is the type of guy you keep if you plan to compete for the playoffs sooner than later.
Davis is listed at 6-foot-10, 225 pounds, and is reportely making $7 million this season. And is doing big things despite coming off the bench for 22 of the 23 games he’s played in.
Tomorrow, the Clippers (18-7) visit the Raptors (16-7).
And it isn’t just a visit to say hello. They’ll play a basketball game. Against each other. And it’ll be televised nationally on ESPN. You should watch.
Here’s the OC Register on Clippers star Kawhi Leonard, who tomorrow will be playing his first game in Toronto since leaving the team in free agency this past summer after helping the Raptors win the 2019 NBA championship, their first-ever league title in franchise history:
In recent years, the 6-foot-7 forward has been hampered by lingering effects of a quadriceps injury that limited him to only nine games in his final season with the San Antonio Spurs in 2016-17. After being traded to Toronto, he was put on a “load management” schedule last season and played only 60 regular-season games before suiting up for all 24 games in the postseason, when he averaged 30.5 points, 9.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists, and claimed his second NBA title and second NBA Finals MVP.
Now, he’s averaging 25.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 1.9 steals in 18 games for the 18-7 Clippers (who are 14-4 with Leonard in the lineup). In the first meeting with Toronto on Nov. 11, Leonard had 12 points, 11 rebounds, nine assists and three steals in a 98-88 victory.
And here’s the Toronto Star:
It’ll be surprising if the vast majority folks who make it to their seats by the appointed time don’t shower Leonard with an unequivocally raucous welcome back. He’s the reigning NBA Finals MVP, after all — Toronto’s first and only. He’s the bringer of rings, the elite addition to Masai Ujiri’s carefully curated collection of talent that transformed a perennial playoff pretender into a title defender.
Even though his time in Toronto was brief, he’ll probably be showered with cheers. At least, as he receives his championship ring. He arrived in Toronto, was easily the team’s best player as they won the championship, then packed his things and kept it moving. Fans wish he had stayed. But he made history, and for that reason, for Raptors fans he’s a hero.
Chicago Bulls small forward Otto Porter Jr. hasn’t played since November 6, and the team today confirmed he is not close to returning to action.
Porter Jr, the team says, underwent an examination yesterday which confirmed the bone injury and healing response in Porter’s left foot to be consistent with a small fracture that has become more clearly defined in recent weeks.
Porter will continue his current period of immobilization and progress as tolerated over the next four weeks, and then re-evaluated.
Porter is listed at 6-foot-8, 198 pounds. He is 26 years old, played college ball at Georgetown, was drafted third overall by the Wizards in 2013, and played multiple seasons for Washington before his time with the Bulls. His NBA career average is 11.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
The Bulls are 8-17 this season, which is the East’s 11th best team record.
The Pacers have a big game tonight, and they reportedly will have point guard Malcolm Brodgon active for the event. Here’s the Indianapolis Star reporting:
Malcolm Brogdon is set to return to the Pacers just in time for the team’s toughest two-game stretch to this point in the season.
Brogdon sat out the Pacers’ 104-103 victory over the Knicks due to an injury to his right pinkie finger. The Pacers’ point guard said he dislocated the finger and tore a ligament in it after hitting it off the shoe of Pistons guard Langston Galloway. Brogdon finished that game with 21 points, five rebounds and five assists.
However, Brogdon said he is confident that he will be able to play Monday night against the Clippers. His time off in New York was a product of “pain balance.”
Brogdon has been a big part of the Pacers (15-8) success this season. He leads the team in scoring at 19.0 points per game and in assists at 7.7 per game.