Rookie San Antonio Spurs guard Dylan Harper will undergo an MRI on his right leg on Thursday after sustaining an injury in Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
According to ESPN’s Michael C. Wright, the belief is that Harper sustained a right hamstring strain, even though the Spurs did not specify the nature of his injury after Wednesday’s 112-113 loss to the reigning NBA champions.
“Sources told ESPN that Harper will undergo an MRI on Thursday in San Antonio,” Wright reported, while adding that Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson did not provide a clear update on his rookie’s apparent leg injury.
Spurs Reeling With Injuries
The Dylan Harper injury could prove to be a body blow to a Spurs team already dealing with an injury to All-Star guard De’Aaron Fox, who missed the first two games of the Western Conference Finals with a right ankle sprain.
After the Game 2 loss, Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson noted that Fox was raring to go on Wednesday after missing Game 1 but was held out by the medical staff.
“He’s just trying to play every day,” Johnson said of Fox.
“It’s a tough injury that he wouldn’t be playing with in the regular season. So he’s trying to tough it out. He did that in Minnesota. He had an awkward landing, so he reaggravated it. We’ve just got to make sure he’s in a place that he can be out there and compete to the level that he would need to in the game that we’re playing.”
Dylan Harper Injury Update
If Harper has sustained a grade 1 hamstring strain, he could potentially return within a week or so, possibly by Game 5 or 6. However, a grade 2 strain would almost surely rule him out for the remainder of the Western Conference Finals.
Sports medicine expert Dr. Evan Jeffries provided a possible return timeline after the Dylan Harper injury occurred in real time during Wednesday’s game.
“Dylan Harper left tonight’s game after grabbing his right “hamstring,” Jeffries wrote on X. “The concern would be for a strain. Typical healing time.
“Tightness: day to day
Grade I: 1-2 weeks
Grade II: 3-6 weeks.”
Elsewhere, Dr. David J. Chao also delivered a worrying update to Spurs fans.
“By video, right hamstring strain on the take off. Likely to miss multiple games,” he wrote on X, while analyzing video footage of the Dylan Harper injury.
The rookie guard sustained his injury on the same night he was named to the All-Rookie First Team after averaging 11.8 points, 3.9 assists and 3.4 rebounds from 69 games for the Spurs. Harper got his first-ever postseason start in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals due to the injury to Fox. He responded emphatically, finishing with 24 points, 11 rebounds, six assists and seven steals. In the process, he became just the third rookie ever to record seven or more steals in a playoff game.
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