Jusuf Nurkic has just been announced to be out for a minimum of four weeks due to inflammation in his left foot. The Portland infirmary therefore continues to fill up, which is already composed of Damian Lillard, Nassir Little and Eric Bledsoe.
The Blazers and injuries, it’s a long love story and here is the latest episode. According to Adrian Wojnarowski ofESPNit’s Jusuf Nurkic who has just been announced unavailable by Portland for a minimum of four weeks, due to plantar fasciitis in his left foot (inflammation due to a tear or break in the sole of the foot) from which he had suffered since September. This absence comes as Nurkic is filming this year in 15 points, 11.1 rebounds (career-high) and 2.8 assists in 28.2 minutes on the floor. The Bosnian has been doing the Blazers’ racket some good lately by taking a max of rebounds and accepting the fight with opposing interiors, which allowed him to compile 30 double-doubles in 56 games in total. Under his leadership, Portland remained on four consecutive victories to take place in the Top 10 of the West.
Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic will miss at least a month with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, team says.
– Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 23, 2022
It’s another loss that hurts Blazers fans, who saw half of the workforce transferred before the deadline, including a certain CJ McCollum. Without Damian Lillard (injured), Cijay, Nassir Little (injured) and therefore Nurkic, they will now have to settle for the nugget Anfernee Simons (whom we like a lot) and Josh Hart to liven up their nights. The group that made it to the Western Conference Final in 2019 has reached its limits and Portland management has decided to turn the page to rebuild around Lillard (at least that’s the official speech). This season, the Blazers are displaying a negative record of 25 wins for 34 defeats. They have 23 games left to play and with the new absence of the pivot, Portland risks falling in the standings to get out of the play-In, especially since the Oregon team will face an opponent at least nine times. positive.
Without wanting to call into question the injury of the great Nurk’, we can ask ourselves if the front office has simply not decided to put a cross on the season to get a top draft pick by putting yourself in the way. As a reminder, the 2022 Draft is announced to be very strong for the first five choices, then quite average for the rest. The Portland franchise could therefore tank to try to get one of these five picks in the next Draft and better rebuild around Dame.
The Oregon franchise is having its worst season in ten years. With Jusuf Nurkic’s injury, the Blazers have an opportunity to tank without getting hit too hard on the knuckles, so why not take advantage of it? Come on gentlemen, we lose games and we find ourselves in the Draft to recover an average player by passing next to a future Hall Of Famer.
Text source: ESPN