What are the Trail Blazers’ Options to Navigate Flood of Backcourt Injuries?
Hardship exceptions, two-way signings and trades are among Portland's possibilities to salvage a decimated guard room.
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📍SAN FRANCISCO — Friday marks eight weeks since the Trail Blazers announced that Scoot Henderson suffered a torn left hamstring. At the time, they said he was expected to return to basketball activities in four to eight weeks.
At the end of that initial timeline, Henderson still isn't close to a return. The team announced on Friday that while he is continuing to progress in his rehab, he will be re-evaluated in two to four weeks.
General manager Joe Cronin said on Sept. 29's media day that the medical staff was "thinking big-picture" about Henderson's recovery timeline and were going to "be smart" about when to bring him back. With hamstring injuries notoriously difficult to diagnose and carrying a high risk of re-injury, it was always likely that he would be out longer than that eight-week timeframe.
This update was expected, but doesn't help the Blazers' current predicament with virtually no healthy guard depth.
Just to run it all down:
- Damian Lillard, as has been the plan since he signed in July, is out for the entire season as he rehabs the torn left Achilles he suffered last year in the playoffs with the Bucks.
- Henderson, after the team's newest update, is multiple weeks away from making his season debut.
- Matisse Thybulle tore a ligament in his left thumb during the Blazers' Oct. 29 win over the Utah Jazz. He underwent surgery two days later and the team said he would miss four to six weeks. Under that timeline, the earliest he could return is Nov. 30's home game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, but it's very possible he misses more time than that.
- During Oct. 31's win over the Denver Nuggets, Blake Wesley suffered a fifth metatarsal fracture in his right foot. After he underwent surgery on Nov. 5, the team ruled him out for eight to 12 weeks. The soonest Wesley could return on that timeline would be the Blazers' three-game road trip at the start of the new year, which will hit Oklahoma City on Dec. 31, New Orleans on Jan. 2 and San Antonio on Jan. 3. If he misses the full 12 weeks, he'll be out until closer to the All-Star break.
- Jrue Holiday, who started the first 12 games of the season at point guard and was giving the Blazers exactly what they hoped for at both ends of the floor when they traded for him this summer, has missed the last three games with a right calf strain. The team announced on Friday that he will be re-evaluated in one to two weeks.
- After dealing with some mild left calf soreness early in the season, Shaedon Sharpe missed Wednesday's loss to the Bulls with some right calf soreness. He's currently considered day-to-day.
That's six players, and $79.4 million of salary, currently on the shelf just at the guard position.
These are the backcourt players Portland does have available right now:
- Deni Avdija has been the de facto starting point guard since Holiday went out. He's kept up his All-Star-level production (he had a 32-point triple-double on Wednesday against the Bulls), and is capable of handling the ball and running the offense, but he's still being asked to play out of position.
- Two-way rookie guard Caleb Love has seen extended minutes in light of the injuries. In 13 minutes per game over seven games, he's shooting 29.4 percent from the field and 20 percent from beyond the arc.
- Fellow two-way rookie Javonte Cooke made his NBA debut on Wednesday against the Bulls to fill some of Sharpe's minutes, scoring four points and shooting 2-for-6 from the field in nine minutes.
- Rayan Rupert has been in and out of the rotation as injuries have mounted. In 49 total minutes this season, he's brought some energy on the defensive end but shot 27.3 percent from the field and 14.3 percent from beyond the arc.
It's a bleak state of affairs. But it's where the Blazers find themselves as they've lost their last four games in a row and six of their last seven, with the schedule not letting up.
"It's just part of the game," acting head coach Tiago Splitter said earlier this week. "We've got to adapt a little bit, and we will. Find ways to win basketball games just like everybody else. You've seen all the guys that are out lately [around the NBA], and the teams that adapt better to those situations are the teams that do well. So that's what we've got to do."
So with this being the Blazers' reality for the time being, how do they do that? Here are four possibilities.
