If you didn’t think the Portland Trail Blazers were tanking before, you should think again.
The team has announced yet another major player on their roster will be out for an extended amount of time, depleting the Blazers of yet another important part of their rotation and lowering their chances of making it far in the postseason.
Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic will miss at least a month with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, team says.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 23, 2022
Center Jusuf Nurkic will miss at least a month with plantar fasciitis in his left foot, according to the team.
Portland said Nurkic has been suffering from symptoms since September but has been playing through the pain during this season.
Now he will take the time off to finally address the issue.
Since the regular NBA season ends on April 10 and the Blazers were struggling to make the playoffs with Nurkic, it’s very likely he has played his last game of the year.
Trail Blazers Tanking
The Blazers have had a supremely rough season, to say the least.
They are already playing without their star athlete, Damian Lillard, who had abdominal surgery recently and probably won’t play again until next season.
And the team has traded away its other key figure, CJ McCollum.
The team is performing at its barest of bare and Nurkic’s sudden departure is leading many to think they are just throwing in the towel.
Indeed, it looks like Portland’s front office is knowing the rest of this season is shot and is simply trying to improve their standing in the NBA Draft.
The Blazers will need to do supremely well in the draft this year – and possibly make some more trades too – if they hope to keep Lillard around.
Lillard was reportedly unhappy with the team before this season began and there is no doubt that he’s even more frustrated now.
