Former All-Stars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins will not play in Thursday night’s preseason finale for the Rockets due to load management, the team announced earlier in the day. It will be Houston’s second straight game to host the San Antonio Spurs at Toyota Center.
Both Wall and Cousins had started all three earlier exhibitions, with each looking to be in fine form for the 2020-21 season. As such, with both having missed all of 2019-20 due to injuries, Rockets head coach Stephen Silas is understandably being cautious with his 30-year-old veterans.
With Wall out, Eric Gordon will slide into the starting backcourt alongside James Harden, with Danuel House Jr. taking the vacated forward slot.
Cousins will be replaced by either Christian Wood or Bruno Caboclo. Wood, who is expected to be Houston’s starting center in the regular season, has missed the initial three exhibition games with a sore left elbow (non-shooting). He is listed as questionable for Thursday’s game. If Wood is held out, Caboclo would presumably make his first start.
Wall averaged 16.3 points (47.5% FG) and 5.3 assists in 22.9 minutes per game during the preseason, while Cousins tallied 10.3 points (46.2% on 3-pointers) and 6.0 rebounds in 17.7 minutes.
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