The Portland Trail Blazers have been without high flyer Shaedon Sharpe, who suffered a left calf injury in their win over the Memphis Grizzlies on Feb. 6.
Portland shouldn't rush him back by any means, especially with just one game left to play until they enter the All-Star break. But those expecting Sharpe to be back in time for the Blazers' first matchup out of the break, Feb. 20 against the Denver Nuggets, could be disappointed.
He's missed three straight contests and will soon make it a fourth, listed as out in their Feb. 12 contest against the Utah Jazz. But it's the details of the injury report that give us cause for concern.
Portland's injury reports against the Grizzlies (Feb. 7) and 76ers (Feb. 9) listed Sharpe as out with left calf soreness. In their two most recent injury reports against the Timberwolves (Feb. 11) and now the Jazz, they have progressed to a left calf strain.
Blazers still can't evaluate backcourt as Shaedon Sharpe downgraded to strain
That's a drastic difference in both injury severity and recovery timelines. For context, Jrue Holiday missed 27 games earlier this season due to a right calf strain. The Blazers have 27 games left this season. There's reason for optimism that Sharpe's injury won't drag on quite as long. For one, Holiday is 35, and Sharpe is 22, on top of being a top-tier athlete. Holiday also wasn't expected to miss that many games. He was re-evaluated in 1-2 weeks, but the soft-tissue issue didn't resolve as quickly as anticipated.
Sharpe suffered a calf strain earlier this season, in November, and only missed four games. So we'd expect him to return at some point this season. Still, this injury was unfortunate timing as the Blazers were finally getting healthier elsewhere.
That game against Memphis was the only time this season we've seen Sharpe and Scoot Henderson share a backcourt. Even then, Scoot was on a minutes restriction, while Sharpe played only half the game before exiting the contest.
Portland's biggest question marks surrounding this roster lie in the backcourt. It's part of the reason they didn't make a swing at the trade deadline, as they haven't had the chance to fully evaluate this roster.
Hopefully, they'll get Scoot and Sharpe back together healthy for an end-of-season playoff push. But the fact that Sharpe has been downgraded from soreness to a strain suggests this could be another extended absence.