While Jahlil Okafor will make his NBA and Sixers debut on Tuesday night in Washington for an exhibition game against the Wizards, newcomer Nik Stauskas will sit out.
Sixers coach Brett Brown revealed Stauskas suffered a stress reaction in his right tibia on Thursday and will miss the next two weeks.
“It’s precautionary, but that is a decent amount of time,” Brown said. “We’ll keep him out a few weeks. We’ll move him slowly.”
Stauskas chalks up the injury to a heavy workload during the summer. He played for Team Canada in the FIBA Tournament of the Americas through the end of September and jumped right into last week’s training camp at Stockton University.
It may have been too much, too soon for Stauskas, who had a whirlwind of a summer. Acquired in a trade with Sacramento, Stauskas has been getting to know his new teammates in addition to playing in the FIBA tournament.
“It just popped up in training camp and we’re trying to be cautious with it,” Stauskas said. “It’s tough, but I played a lot of basketball this summer and I didn’t take much time off. That’s probably the reason why it happened.”
Stauskas says he expects to return by the end of the preseason and will be ready for opening night in Boston on Oct. 28. He is expected to be the team’s starting shooting guard.
NBA
“I feel comfortable with where I’m at because I played a lot of basketball this summer and I have my rhythm back and I’m in game shape,” Stauskas said. “Obviously, this is a bit of a setback, but I’m not too worried about it.”
Jackson, McConnell out
Stauskas won’t be the only newcomer on the sidelines on Tuesday night. Point guards Pierre Jackson and T.J. McConnell, both vying for roster spots, will not play Tuesday night.
Jackson has been nursing a groin injury off-and-on all summer, and McConnell has a sprained left foot.
Nerlens Noel, who did not scrimmage on Monday because of a sore hip, is expected to play on Tuesday night. So too is Richaun Holmes, who returned from a sprained ankle to practice on Monday.
Starting five
Brown says Isaiah Canaan will be his starting point guard for Tuesday’s preseason opener. Canaan will be paired with JaKarr Sampson and Robert Covington on the wings with Noel and Okafor on the low post.
Don’t expect the Sixers to suddenly become a half-court team with Okafor in the middle. Yes, the Sixers are going to look to get the ball to Okafor, but Brown says the objective on offense is to keep the pace high.
“We haven’t put in anything complicated because it would be unfair of me to put in anything complicated,” Brown said. “They want a base and they want solid. They want to be coached like NBA players on spacing stuff and basic NBA rules and terminology. Our system is very simple, as I’ve said, but it’s very accountable within that simplicity. It’s real NBA basketball, but it’s basic.
“That’s what I expect to see [Tuesday]. Just basic NBA basketball, but with a high level of accountability.”