AT&T CENTER – San Antonio Spurs rookie point guard Dejounte Murray has missed the Spurs’ last four games, as he’s been sidelined with what the team is calling a left groin injury. Sunday, before the Spurs take the floor against the Sacramento Kings, Spurs Head Coach Gregg Popovich revealed Murray’s injury could keep him out for two or three weeks.
Asked if Murray will be ready to play soon, Popovich responded, “No. He’s progressing. They told me a couple of more weeks. Who would have guessed? I never heard of the injury myself, but I asked last night,
‘Hey, is he alright?’
‘Yeah, he’ll be back in two or three weeks.’
‘Excuse me?’ one of those deals, said Popovich.”
A two-week timeline might give Murray six regular season games to play once more before the playoffs, and a three-week timeline would give him just one more game to play. When he was healthy, Murray was the Spurs’ third point guard in the rotation behind Tony Parker and Patty Mills. So, it didn’t look like he would have a key role in the upcoming playoffs. The injury makes it even slimmer Murray could carve out a role for the playoff roster, outside of just being on the active list by that time.
Popovich did say it’s a “pelvic bone” injury, even though the team is diagnosing it as a groin injury.
For the Spurs, even though Murray isn’t in their core-10 player rotation, missing him could have an effect on how much rest Mills and Parker are able to get before the playoffs, as Popovich mentioned.
“In the process, we don’t want to overplay Patty (Mills),” said Popovich. “I’m worried about that. Tony’s out and he’s out (Murray) and now we’re playing Bryn, and we have to get in a flow. Guys have to get in a flow.”
For now, with their third point guard sidelined, the Spurs will have to rely on rookie shooting guard Bryn Forbes to take over the third point guard duties whenever one of Parker or Mills are out for a game going forward until Murray returns.
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