CJ McCollum remains unavailable for the Portland Trail Blazers when they host the Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday. But his presence at Moda Center is already a welcome sight for Rip City and its fans.
The 29-year-old scorer made his first public appearance since suffering a hairline fracture in his left foot. Wearing a protective walking boot, McCollum was seen polishing his handles and even attempted a 3-pointer off of one leg. Here's the clip.
Nice to see CJ McCollum back on the court a bit 🙏@trailblazers | @CJMcCollumpic.twitter.com/v91BuDn7rZ
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) February 12, 2021
The Blazers franchise is indeed no stranger to dealing with the injury bug for years. This season hasn't been any different, as CJ McCollum and starting center Jusuf Nurkic are both expected to miss significant time in the 2020-21 campaign.
While McCollum's latest setback is worrying for Blazers fans since he's had foot issues in the past, the team is still fortunate that their star guard did not have to go under the knife for this one.
“The severity of it is different. It doesn’t require surgery. It’s a different part of the foot. A Jones fracture is what I had previously – it’s a very common sports injury. This injury that I have [now] is very unique because of how I got it — it’s not a contact injury, it’s not a direct impact to the foot,” McCollum explained earlier.
McCollum was averaging a career-best 26.7 points on 47.4 percent shooting from the field and 44.1 percent from deep in 13 games played prior to his injury. Portland has held the fort so far in his absence, holding on to the 5th spot in the Western Conference Standings with a 13-10 slate.
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