On Houston’s official injury report issued prior to Sunday night’s game versus Milwaukee, the Rockets listed reserve big man Bruno Caboclo as out due to a sprained right ankle.
The athletic 24-year-old did not play in the opening victory against Dallas on on Friday night. As such, the injury presumably occurred in one of the team’s recent practices at the NBA “bubble” in Florida.
Caboclo had played only sparingly after being acquired by Houston at the February trade deadline. In all, prior to the hiatus of the 2019-20 season in March, he played just 28 minutes across five games for the Rockets, typically in mop-up duty once a game had already been decided.
The 6-foot-9 big man was not expected to be in Houston’s regular rotation at the NBA restart, though he was anticipated to be an depth option for head coach Mike D’Antoni near the end of the bench.
Because he inadvertently broke quarantine upon arrival at the bubble, Caboclo had already missed more than a week’s worth of practices in mid-July. The latest injury would seem to be yet another setback for Caboclo, who will be a free agent once the 2019-20 season concludes.
D’Antoni did not mention Caboclo in comments to reporters Saturday, which came prior to the release of the team’s injury report. The Rockets do have another backup big man available in veteran Tyson Chandler.
Tip-off between the Rockets (41-24) and Bucks (54-12) is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Central on Sunday, with a regional broadcast on AT&T SportsNet Southwest and a national telecast on ABC.
