Chauncey Billups named Scoot Henderson the Portland Trail Blazers' starting point guard on Feb. 15. The rookie "deserved" the promotion, Billups said, after improving while leading the bench unit for almost three months.
Scoot played 31 minutes that night against the Minnesota Timberwolves - the last game before the all-star break - and scored 15 points on 5-of-12 shooting while dishing out 4 assists.
That's the last time Henderson saw the floor for the Trail Blazers after aggravating an adductor injury during the Rising Stars tournament at all-star weekend. When is he expected to return?
Scoot Henderson was playing his best basketball before getting injured
In the five games leading up to his promotion, the 20-year-old was averaging 19.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.6 assists and only 2.2 turnovers on 43/48/97 shooting splits. That 3-point percentage came on more than 4 attempts a night and Henderson was getting to the free-throw line nearly 7 times a game during that stretch.
That last stat is key for Scoot, who's second-to-last in the NBA in field-goal percentage on drives to the rim. Given his strength, speed, quickness and explosiveness, it's an odd area for him to struggle. Getting to the line where he's shooting 82 percent on the season and 96 percent in his last 10 games can offset that issue until he corrects it.
Latest injury update, return timeline for Scoot Henderson
The rookie needs all the minutes he can get; that's clear after the steady improvement he's shown throughout the year. Closing out the regular season on a high note like Shaedon Sharpe did last April would be a sigh of relief for the organization and a major confidence boost for Scoot.
Unfortunately, he's missed the last six games, and it could be more.
There's no clear timetable for when the 6-foot-3 guard will return. He missed the first three post-all-star-break games and was then ruled out for Portland's three-game road trip to Memphis and Minnesota. The Trail Blazers return home on March 6 for a matchup with the Oklahoma City Thunder and Henderson has been ruled out for that one as well.
It's a tightrope walk for the organization: Get Scoot on the floor to rack up minutes and experience, but don't rush him back and risk making things worse. Sharpe played through the same injury this season and will likely miss the rest of the year after needing surgery.
Taking that into consideration, there's a decent chance Henderson will miss at least another week. There are 22 games left in the regular season; if he misses two more weeks and returns for a March 22 matchup with the LA Clippers, he'd close out the year playing 13 straight games (fingers crossed). Sharpe exploded onto the scene in the last 10 of 2022-23.
Expect the Blazers to be cautious with Henderson but give him every chance to get back on the floor by the end of the year if he can get healthy.