Trail Blazers Lose Out in February, Lose Deandre Ayton to Hand Injury
A dispiriting end to the month puts the season closer to the abyss.
📍 PORTLAND, Ore. — Some people called this “The Dame Trade Package Game.”
Not me. I would never do that. But some people did.
Back in August, the league scheduled the Trail Blazers’ Tuesday night game against Miami on TNT. After a trade went down that wasn’t the one the entire NBA media apparatus had talked themselves into thinking was inevitable, that game got flexed off of national TV. Now, in order to watch it, you had to either get ROOT Sports (not everybody does) or buy one of the tickets that were famously going for $1 on the secondary sites in the days leading up to the game.
Those that tuned in or showed up got half of a great time, only to be met on the other side with another dose of the same type of freak injury that has derailed what little progress there has been to draw from this season. The Blazers finished February 0-9, the first winless calendar month in franchise history.
Far and away the Blazers’ best player in that first half, when they jumped out to a double-digit lead against a mostly full-strength Heat team, was Deandre Ayton, who put together another in a string of stellar performances since coming back from a knee injury in January. Ayton had 12 points on 6-of-9 shooting along with 10 rebounds in 18 minutes in the first half.
And so, of course, that meant he didn’t come out of the tunnel for second-half warmups and Duop Reath started at center in his place. Earlier, Ayton had collided with Kevin Love near the basket and fell hard on his right hand. He stayed on the bench, got looked at by the team’s training staff, checked back in and had another good shift to close out the half.
But at halftime, once the adrenaline wore off and he realized how much pain he was in, Ayton was ruled out for the rest of the game with a hand sprain. Portland gave up an 8-0 run to start the third quarter, stayed with the Heat for a while and ultimately ran out of gas.
The good news: Chauncey Billups said x-rays on Ayton’s hand came back negative, which means it’s not broken. He’ll get an MRI in the next day or two. Best-case scenario, that scan doesn’t return anything concerning and he’s back after a couple games. Worst case, the injury is more serious and you can add Ayton’s recent encouraging play to a long list of things with this Blazers season that seemed promising and were cut short by health.
That list doubled at the beginning of the season as a list of things fans should get excited about in a rebuilding year.
No. 3 overall pick Scoot Henderson, who was turning a corner before the All-Star break, aggravated an adductor injury during the Rising Stars game in Indianapolis and has missed the last three games. Billups said Tuesday that he still hasn’t returned to practice, meaning he’ll likely be out at least a few more games. If he can come back, he will—he needs the reps.
Shaedon Sharpe, who fought through a core muscle injury for several weeks and put together a couple of stretches in November and December that showed why the Blazers view him as foundational to their rebuild, underwent surgery and will be out until at least mid-March. Both Sharpe and the team want the injury to not be season-ending, but that far into it, they might decide there’s no point in bringing him back.
That’s the two most important young players, and now the starting center that’s also viewed as a long-term piece, whose statuses are up in the air. Who knows when or if Malcolm Brogdon will play again. Robert Williams III is already out for the season. Jerami Grant’s back and Anfernee Simons’ ankle could coincidentally flare up in the next week or two. If you’ve watched the back halves of the last two seasons, you have an idea of where this could be headed. I have some thoughts on that, if they decide to go that way. We’ll save them for then.
In the meantime, strap in for another five and a half weeks.
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Ayton has by far been the most fun part of the Blazers in 2024. Such a huge bummer.