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‘It’s pretty much caution’: Rockets lose Jalen Green to hamstring issue

Ben DuBose
·3 min read

After two brilliant games at the Las Vegas Summer League and a strong start to his third, Houston Rockets rookie guard Jalen Green abruptly left Thursday’s game versus Toronto with a sore right hamstring.

Green had started Thursday’s game with 13 points (3-of-5 on 3-pointers) and 3 rebounds in just 12 minutes, but he grimaced after a shot attempt late in the second quarter and struggled to get back on defense.

Within minutes, the Rockets issued an update that Green was done for the night with right hamstring soreness. In a third-quarter interview with NBA TV, which was broadcasting the game, head coach Stephen Silas was asked whether Green’s removal was due to caution or if it might be something more concerning than that. Silas responded:

It’s pretty much caution. He just felt a little tightness, so we’re going to be extra careful and have him back there getting some treatment. We have two days off between this game and our next (on Sunday), so we’ll see how it goes.

It’s hard for those guys. They weren’t playing a lot leading up to this, just individual workouts, and now they’re playing every other day. So yeah, we’re going to be cautious with that.

During the third quarter, Green was able to rejoin his summer league teammates on the Houston bench.

Green entered Thursday averaging 24.0 points (51.7% FG, 50.0% on 3-pointers), 5.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 29.9 minutes per game, with the Rockets winning convincingly in each of those summer league contests. Just 19 years old, the 6-foot-6 guard was picked at No. 2 overall in the first round of the recent 2021 NBA draft, and he’s considered a cornerstone player in Houston’s rebuild moving forward.

NBA training camps for next season aren’t expected to begin until late September, so Green could have as many as six weeks to rest his hamstring between Thursday’s injury and when official 2021-22 preparations begin for Silas and the Rockets. However, it sounds as if the team is hopeful that such extended downtime won’t be necessary.

Final word on Green’s status for the remaining two games of summer league play won’t be known until the weekend, but expect the Rockets to err on the side of caution with such an important young player.

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