I only have Khris Middleton on here because I’ve put up enough Gordon Hayward pics.
(PHOTO CREDIT: David Butler II/USA Today.)
So there are a litany of players that are said to be out for a while. Man, injuries suck so much. They are part of the game. That doesn’t mean that injuries don’t suck. (And yeah, you should never ever cheer for an injury. What kind of person are you?)
Anyway, here’s the first one that we learned last night. Thanks to Shams Charania of The Athletic for all the updates.
Khris Middleton hurt his thigh on Sunday‘s game against Oklahoma City. So he’ll be out until early-to-mid-December.
He’s one of those guys that have gone underappreciated (although some will disagree because of the enormous 5-year, $178 million deal he signed last summer). He is the #2 option for the Bucks and he gets it done with his scoring, playmaking (that kind of gets lost in the shuffle), and defense. The people around the league know his worth as he was chosen as an all-star for the first time of his NBA career last season.
Maybe the Bucks will be okay without him but he was also a fail-safe for the team. Guys like Wesley Matthews, Sterling Brown, Ersan Ilyasova, and George Hill will have to make up for Middleton’s production as he recovers.
Middleton is averaging 18.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game while shooting just over 39 percent from behind the arc.
Okay, we knew about what happened to the next one. Now we have a timetable.
That’s actually not so bad. His damage compared to Stephen Curry‘s hand injury isn’t as terrible.
The Celtics played against the Mavericks on Monday night and they looked pretty good. They still lead the league with an 8-1 record so if they do falter while Hayward is out, they have a bit of room for error to stay at or near the top.
Marcus Smart has taken his place in the starting line-up.
Now for the third injury. Things come in threes, I guess.
De’Aaron Fox suffered the injury at the end of team practice. Yikes.
Cory Joseph is likely to take his spot while he’s out. But it hasn’t been a great start so far for the Kings. They’re 3-6 at the moment and they already lost Marvin Bagley III. Plus Fox is their leading scorer and that team is already not great at the offensive end. Yeah, this is a pretty bad loss for Sactown.
Arguably the fastest player in the game, Fox is averaging 18.2 points and 7 assists in 9 games.
Speedy recovery to EVERYONE.
Rey-Rey is on Twitter at @TheNoLookPass.
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