Sixers

Report: Bad to Worse

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Aug 7th, 2018 · 2:43 PM EDT

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It’s a broken foot for Zhaire Smith, per Shams:

Sources: Philadelphia 76ers rookie Zhaire Smith has suffered a fractured left foot. Smith, the No. 16 pick in the Draft, hurt his foot on Monday in Las Vegas during a developmental camp for NBA players.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 7, 2018

Smith had MRI/imaging in Philadelphia today revealing a Jones fracture — with surgery scheduled for later this week, league sources said. He also will see another specialist in Philadelphia. https://t.co/VT0RVpZ9oi

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 7, 2018

Really? A Jones fracture? OF COURSE it’s a Jones fracture.

That’s the same injury Ben Simmons suffered during his rookie year. He had his surgery on October 4th of 2016 and wound up missing the rest of the season. Kevin Durant also dealt with the injury 3-4 years ago. Both of those guys obviously performed at a very high level after coming back to the court.

A Jones fracture is a break between the base and middle part of the fifth metatarsal, which you can see in this diagram from ePainAssist.com:

I’m not sure what Sixers fans are feeling at this point. These rookie maladies have happened so frequently that maybe everybody is just numb to it. It actually happened twice this summer, with Landry Shamet going on the shelf with an injury of his own.

We’ll see what the prognosis is for Smith. Sometimes the Jones fracture comes with a smaller 3-4 month timetable for return, and I do think Ben Simmons could have returned earlier if that 2016 season really meant something for the Sixers instead of being a bridge year coming out of the Process era.

Either way, the Sixers are down an athletic wing for the start of camp. We’ll have a better idea of where he is after Smith sees a specialist in Philly.

Rich sums it up:

We will see how bad Zhaire Smith's foot injury is, but man, the history of rookie years (well, for Donovan Mitchell supporters anyway) of Process era first-round picks is something. pic.twitter.com/YadAeoqHYQ

— Rich Hofmann (@rich_hofmann) August 7, 2018