Tyreke Evans will be back in the lineup when the Sacramento Kings face the Memphis Grizzlies tonight at Sleep Train Arena. Evans has missed nearly half of the regular season due to a lingering left-knee injury he suffered in late November.
No word if Evans will start or come off the bench in his return.
The 22-year-old guard has missed 16 games this year after banging knees with Andrei Kirilenko during a Nov. 27 game against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
He tried to come back from the injury on two different occasions. In his first trial outing, Evans scored 23 points, including back-to-back momentum changing 3-pointers, in the Kings’ 107-100 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 5. He then sat out the following week, but returned for a brief two-and-a-quarter game stint that concluded after just one period of play against the Denver Nuggets.
Exactly one month ago, Evans underwent an MRI on his left knee that came back negative. Last week, a second opinion by sports orthopedist Dr. Steven Lombardo agreed with the Kings’ medical staff’s initial diagnosis and treatment.
In the five games before injuring his left knee, Evans was posting numbers comparable to his Rookie of the Year campaign. The 23-year-old guard was averaging 21 points, 4.8 assists and 5.4 rebounds in 32.8 minutes per game. He was also shooting a stellar 54.8 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from 3-point land before being sidelined to injury.
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