Houston Rockets head coach Stephen Silas updated the media on rookie guard Jalen Green’s status during his pregame press conference before taking on the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday.
“He is definitely itching to come back,” said coach Silas. “We are waiting a week, and then we are going to reevaluate. It hasn’t been a week yet, and we are waiting.”
The No.2 overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft has missed the last two games for the Rockets after sustaining a strained left hamstring injury during the first quarter in the win against the Chicago Bulls. He was off to a fantastic start in the game, making four out of the five shots he took for 11 points.
Green, 19, is currently averaging 14 points per game in his rookie season to go along with 2.3 assists. He had a career-high 30 points and shot 80 percent from beyond the three-point line (8 of 10) against the Boston Celtics in October,
The Rockets medical staff wants to make sure Green is fully functional to play before clearing him to enter back into the rotation. Rockets coaching staff observed Green the day after the Bulls game and could tell it wasn’t going to be an easy task keeping him on the sidelines.
“He wanted to practice today but he can’t,” coach Silas said he had to reiterate to Green. “There is going to be that impatience when it comes to him. He also needs to know that this is an 82-game season, and we are in November.”
Houston hopes Green will be available next week when the Rockets face the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks, who were preseason favorites to play each other in the Eastern Conference Finals.
