injuries

Casey Holdahl

The rematch between Scoot Henderson and Victor Wembanyama will have to wait for another day.

The Trail Blazers announced Saturday that Henderson, who left Portland’s 100-99 loss to the Houston Rockets in the third quarter with a right shoulder injury, will not play in Sunday’s matchup versus the San Antonio Spurs.

Henderson looked as good as advertised in his summer league debut before exiting Friday’s loss after a collision with Houston’s Jabari Smith Jr.

“Went up for a dunk and Jabari kind of came down on the shoulder pretty hard,” said Henderson, who underwent an MRI on his shoulder, after Saturday’s practice at UNLV. “We’re still looking to see what’s going on.”

Despite missing most of the second half, Henderson finished with 15 points, six assists, five rebounds and a steal in 21 minutes.

“I think I played pretty smooth,” said Henderson. “I know there’s areas I definitely need to improve on, just little things in my game where I think I could really perfect and master. But first game, got a lot to do, got a lot of work.”

Though Henderson will miss Sunday’s game versus Wembanyama, he is listed as day-to-day, which at least keeps open the possibility that the third overall pick of the 2023 NBA Draft will play in one of the Trail Blazers’ remaining games in Las Vegas.

Portland will also be without guard Keon Johnson for Sunday’s game after he suffered a dislocated finger after just playing one minute versus the Rockets. His status for the rest of summer league will also be reevaluated.

Sunday’s game between the Trail Blazers and Spurs at Thomas and Mack Center on the campus of UNLV is scheduled for 5 p.m. on ESPN2.

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Henderson, Johnson Out For Sunday's Game Versus Spurs

PORTLAND, Ore. (April 13, 2023) – Trail Blazers forward Nassir Little underwent successful surgery today to repair a right-side core muscle injury.

The surgery was performed by Dr. William C. Meyers at the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia. The procedure was similar to his left side repair performed May 10th of last year.

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Nassir Little Undergoes Abdominal Surgery

Greetings to those of you sticking out the last days of the Trail Blazers' 2022-23 season. With it being that time of the year again in which every NBA podcast devotes a segment to what Damian Lillard should do, I figured it was time to hear from the man himself, so I sat down with point guard for the latest edition of The Brief Case, which you can listen and subscribe to below...

Over the course of 15 minutes, Dame discusses his main takeaways from the 2022-23 season, returning from injury while reminding people how great he is, what he was heartened and disappointed by this season, how he views his individual performance, his thoughts on why he should be first-team All-NBA, why watching the playoffs puts him in a bad mood, his comments on JJ Redick's podcast about what constitutes success and the reaction to those comments, his issues with the NBA media landscape and what he hopes the team can get accomplished in the offseason.&nbsp;Dame has never been shy about letting it fly, both on and off the court.

And prior to the interview with Dame, topics on this, the 33rd edition, include...

• The Trail Blazers having just seven players available in their loss to the Kings on Wednesday

• Shaedon Sharpe doing something that only Luka Doncic, Kevin Durant and LeBron James had done before

• The remaining schedules of Trail Blazers, Magic, Pacers and Wizards

• Rooting for the Knicks to make the playoffs and avoid the play-in

• Justise Winslow's comments on undergoing season-ending surgery on his left ankle

• Keon Johnson breaking his finger and the Trail Blazers responding by signing Skylar Mays out of the G-League to a 10-day contract

Please consider subscribing to the Brief Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Deezer, PlayerFM. Talk again next week!

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Dame Discusses Season, All-NBA And His Hopes For The Future On The Brief Case

A happy 2023 to all the listeners out there. Before the Trail Blazers play their first game of the new year, after which they'll head out for a three-game trip, wanted to get the 15th edition of The Brief Case up and available where ever you get your podcasts...

Topics on this edition of the Brief Case include...

• The impending debut of Gary Payton II, who is expected to play in Monday night's game versus the Pistons.

• Where the Trail Blazers are at in the standings and in offensive/defensive rating at the start of the new year.

• Heading out on one more road trip before the team spends most of January at home.

• Josh Hart's thoughts on Portland's first 35 games and why he's not satisfied with being in eighth-place.

You can subscribe to the Brief Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Deezer and PlayerFM. I'll have another road edition up some time later this week, so consider subscribing before then!

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PODCAST » GP2 Debuts, Hart Surveys The Season Thus Far On The Brief Case

It took a little longer than expected, but Gary Payton II is close to making his debut as a Trail Blazer as the calendar turns over to 2023.

After missing the first 35 games of the season as he rehabilitated from offseason surgery, Payton II is not listed on the injury report for Monday’s game versus the Pistons at Moda Center, the first contest of 2023 for the Trail Blazers. This is the first time this season that his status has been listed as anything other than “out,” which presumably means he'll play his first minutes of the season Monday night.

Payton II signed with the Trail Blazers as a free agent during the 2022 offseason reportedly worth $26 million over the course of three seasons after he played a key role in the Warriors’ 2022 NBA Championship run.

“We re excited to have Gary join us in Portland,” said Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin after the signing. “Gary brings an elite defensive acumen and championship pedigree that will be essential to how we play basketball. His competitiveness and toughness will accent Coach Billups’ style of play.”

But Payton II has been sidelined ever since undergoing a procedure at the Vincera Institute in Philadelphia to “address a core muscle injury.” He was expected to miss training camp -- which he did -- but the expectation was that the 30-year old in his fifth season out of Oregon State would be available by the start of the regular season.

On October 13, the team announced that Payton II would miss the start of the regular season, though they also noted at that time that “his rehab continues to progress well.” Two weeks after that, the team announced that Payton II was re-evaluated by Dr. William C. Meyers, who performed the procedure back in July, and that he had been “cleared to increase conditioning and on court activity in preparation to return to play.” Two weeks later on November 18, the team announced that “throughout progressive levels of rehab in preparation to return to gamer play, Payton has experienced intermittent soreness” and that he would again be re-evaluated in two weeks.

Since then, Payton has participated in some on-court activity with the team. However, as recently as Wednesday, head coach Chauncey Billups noted that the 6-3 guard had participated in some, but not all of the team’s most recent practice and implied that his status going forward would depend on how he felt after consecutive days of increased workload.

Billups also noted prior to Friday’s loss to the Warriors -- Payton II received his championship ring from his former team in a short ceremony prior to tipoff -- that there were non-physical issues at play regarding Payton’s return.

“He’s working his behind off to get back, he’s close, very close,” said Billups. “Medically, we’ve and he’s done everything that he can do. I always tell people, a lot of times, like, nobody really understands. Like, when you have an injury, you have surgery, there’s not just a physical component that you have to get over, there’s a mental component as well. You don’t want to get hurt again, you don’t want to re-injure yourself, and I think that’s kind of where it is with (Payton) is like, he’s just trying to get over that.”

Apparently Payton II’s body and mind are in the same place, as indicated by his change in status for Monday’s game. The Trail Blazers could certainly use the boost Payton is expected to provide as they’ve lost four of their last five and had just eight players (10 if you count the two-way players) in uniform in Saturday night’s loss in San Francisco.

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Gary Payton II Available For Monday's Game Versus Pistons

Greetings from the OTHER Milwaukee. With the team embarking on yet another extended November road trip after a disappointing three-game homestand and with news that Damian Lillard would miss at least the next week with a calf injury, there was plenty to go over on the eighth edition of The Brief Case podcast, which you can listen and subscribe to below...

On this edition, we go consider the Trail Blazers going 1-2 on a three-game homestand, which ended on Saturday with a loss to the Utah Jazz, hear from Damian Lillard discuss the right soleus strain that will keep him sidelined for at least the duration of the road trip, Portland's worsening record versus the spread, offensive and defensive ratings updates and a quick look at this week's slate of games.

You can subscribe to the Brief Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Deezer and PlayerFM. 

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PODCAST » Injuries And Another Trip On The Brief Case, Episode 8

PORTLAND -- After going 4-2 on their most recent road trip, the Trail Blazers fell to 1-2 on a three-game homestand with a 118-113 loss to the Utah Jazz Saturday night at Moda Center.

“I just felt like we took too long to fight in the game,” said Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups. “That’s just hard. You’ve got to play perfect basketball against a good team to come back from 19 (down). Thought that cost us.”

The Trail Blazers are now 10-6 overall and 4-4 at home this season. With the loss, Portland is tied for second in the Western Conference after 16 games, with Utah taking the top spot at 12-6 with the victory.

“They’re obviously a well-coached team and they’ve been playing very well as well, so they were going to come in disciplined, ready, hungry to get the number one seed,” said Anfernee Simons. “And I think we didn’t match their intensity early on and we had to fight our way back once again.”

Portland led by as many as 12 points in the first quarter, though that was more a product of Utah, a team playing on the second night of a back-to-back, missing open shots than anything else. The Jazz would eventually find their stroke in the second, outscoring the Blazers by 10 in the quarter to take a 58-51 lead into the half.

Utah took the largest lead of the game midway through the third quarter at 77-58, but as they’ve done all year, Portland rallied to get back into the game. After cutting into the Jazz’s advantage in the second half of the third quarter and the first half of the fourth, Portland went on an 11-2 run capped by a Drew Eubanks dunk with just under three minutes to play, that gave the home team a 106-105 lead.

But after the two teams swapped the lead for the next few possessions, Utah guard Jordan Clarkson went on a personal 8-1 run to give the Jazz a 115-109 lead with 44 seconds to play. Portland would get to within two, but they were forced to foul with so little time left and with Utah making three of their four free throws, there would be no opportunity to win the game, let alone send it to overtime.

Simons led Portland with 23 points on 7-of-19 shooting from the field, 4-of-13 shooting from three and 5-of-6 shooting from the line to go with eight rebounds, seven assists and a block in 35 minutes.

Josh Hart posted 19 points, eight rebounds, two assists and two steals in 30 minutes. Jusuf Nurkic went 8-of-10 from the field on the way to 18 points, seven rebounds and two assists in 27 minutes.

Jerami Grant added 14 and Drew Eubanks went 6-of-6 from the field and 1-of-1 from the line for 13 points to go with five rebounds and four steals.

But to make matters worse, Damian Lillard left Saturday’s game in the third quarter due to “right calf tightness” and did not return. It is the second time in the last two weeks that Lillard has missed time due to his right calf.

“It wasn’t a buildup, I haven’t felt it since the first time I strained it,” said Lillard. “Took a shot and I started running back. The first time I hurt it I felt it when it happened, this time I just took off running back on defense and I was just like ‘What’s what?’ It just felt like it tightened up.”

Lillard noted that he did have an MRI and that his calf doesn’t feel as bad as it did when it caused him to miss five games earlier in the season, though he also assumes he’ll have to sit out games this time around.

“It’s frustrating,” said Lillard, who posted 13 points and seven assists in 26 minutes. “I sat 10 months, basically, and I prepared myself to come back and be out there. I might have missed two games before in my career one time for having a calf injury and now, just having to deal with this, it’s frustrating, especially with the start that we’ve had.”

Lillard’s status for Monday’s game versus the Bucks in Milwaukee, and the rest of their upcoming four-game road trip, is to be determined.

“The only thing I know is that is wasn’t as bad as the first one when I just recently strained it," said Lillard. "That’s all I know right now.”

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Blazers Finish Homestand With Loss, Lillard Leaves With Injury

A happy Halloween to all of the listeners out there. With a few days until Wednesday's game versus the Grizzlies and a few more before the team leaves for their first extended road trip of the season, wanted to get another edition of The Brief Case podcast into your ears despite a relatively light week of Trail Blazers basketball.

On this edition, we look at where the Trail Blazers are at in the standings and where they rank in some of the important statistical categories after six games (5-1 versus the spread!), Damian Lillard's calf strain and when he might return to game action, Shaedon Sharpe's first start versus the Rockets and what his coaches and teammates had to say about it, finishing off a homestand versus the Grizzlies and what Josh Hart, who recently entered the NBA's concussion protocols, had to say about his competitive nature, not being a great practice player and why he wants his teammates to say he's "crazy but I'm happy he's on our side."

You can subscribe to the Brief Case on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, IHeartRadio, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Podcast Addict, Podchaser, Pocket Casts, Deezer and PlayerFM. And please do so soon, I'm not going to post every episode here like I do with The Blazers Balcony, so the best way to stay up-to-the-minute is to subscribe.

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PODCAST » Sharpe's Ascent, Hart's Aggression On The Brief Case

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