By Johnny Askounis/ info@eurohoops.net
Madrid-born forward Usman Garuba will be sidelined for at least one additional week after suffering an injury to his right ankle during Houston Rockets’ practice on Thursday.
“It might be a week or so. He turned it pretty good. It’s not a day-to-day thing for sure,” commented Rockets head coach Stephen Silas, “Hopefully, it won’t be the whole season. Hopefully, it’ll be somewhere in between.”
Garuba, 20, sprained his ankle shortly after returning to action following the surgery to repair his fractured left wrist in January. Registering three points, three rebounds, one steal, and one block in Sunday’s loss to the New Orleans Pelicans made out his lone appearance between the two stints on the injury list. Earlier in his rookie NBA season, he was sidelined with a bruised thigh as well, besides entering the league’s health and safety protocols.
Moving from Real Madrid to the NBA as the 23rd pick of the 2021 draft, he has averaged 1.4 points, 2.3 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.4 blocks for the Rockets. The Spanish big man, 2021 EuroLeague Rising Star and ACB Best Young Player, made his way to 16 NBA games so far while registering 11 G League appearances powering the Rio Grande Valley Vipers with 9.2 points, 9.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.6 steals, and 1.1 blocks per contest.
“It’s going to be the summer progression, it’s going to be the summer league, it’s going to be a lot of different things that’ll help him get to where he needs to be for next year,” added Silas diving into the development of Garuba, “Hopefully, he’ll be able to work his way back and maybe play in a few games before the season ends but the summer’s most important.”
The Rockets, officially eliminated from the postseason, have 12 Regular Season fixtures left on the schedule stretching through the next three weeks.
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