The Pistons announced a slew of injury updates today. Jalen Duren (ankle) is expected to return to practice this week and Bojan Bogdanovic (right calf strain) has begun a return to play progression and has been cleared for full basketball activities.
Both of those updates are good and hopefully means both players will be returning to action relatively soon. There isn’t a specific timeline for either player, but I would assume they will not be available for Friday’s In-Season Tournament game against the Pacers.
The update that is not as good is that Monte Morris has received a PCP injection for his quad injury and will be re-evaluated in 6-8 weeks. That is a big blow for a player who was excited to be back playing for the team he grew up watching and also a big blow to the Pistons who need an adult at point guard that can take care of the ball.
That is Morris’ specialty and it could have been a huge boost to the Pistons, who have struggled mightily with turnovers this season. Instead, the Pistons will continue to rely on Killian Hayes, who does a good job of taking care of the ball, and Marcus Sasser, who is a rookie and will do rookie things.
As the Pistons losing streak has reached 12 games, there could be some much-needed reinforcements in Duren and Bogdanovic, but you also have to account for the reintegration they will have to go through when returning to action. Neither player is going to hit the ground running, which the Pistons really need them to do right now.
In the grand scheme of things, the return of Duren and Bogdanovic will do a lot more for improving the Pistons than getting Morris back, but it doesn’t mean that Morris’ loss is any less devastating. We could be looking at the trade deadline before we even get to see Morris play in a Pistons uniform.
In a season that has broken the confidence of fans and players alike as the wheels continue to fall off, we just couldn’t have all positive injury news.