He hasn’t played in almost two weeks. But Marcus Thornton is eager to return as soon as possible.
Chuck Hayes is optimistic his return to the court will be sooner rather than later.
“We’re gonna see how I wake up in the morning,” the veteran big man told reporters after practice today. ”See how my shoulder feels and it’s going to be a gametime decision.”
The Sacramento Kings have just sent out a press release regarding the health of guard Marcus Thornton.
MARCUS THORNTON INJURY REPORT
SACRAMENTO, CA —- A diagnostic ultrasound test performed on guard Marcus Thornton today at the UC Davis Medical Center revealed a significant hematoma in his left thigh. He is expected to miss approximately one to two weeks of action.
Here’s video of Kings head coach Keith Smart talking about Thornton’s injury with media after shoot-around today.
Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee tweeted today that Marcus Thornton will miss his third game in a row with a thigh contusion. This means rookie Jimmer Fredette will get his third consecutive start for the Kings tonight in Houston.
Jimmer Fredette will start tonight again for Thornton
— JasonJones (@mr_jasonjones) January 13, 2012
Fredette has struggled in his first two starts, averaging 8.5 points while shooting just 5-for-17 from the field. Jimmer looks slightly uncomfortable on the court and his teammates seem to sense that as well.
Houston poses match-up troubles in the backcourt for most teams. Kyle Lowry is having a breakout season, posting career highs in points (15), assists (9.4) and rebounds (6.8). Kevin Martin’s numbers are down across the board, but he still leads Houston in scoring and is a threat to score 30 points on any given night. It will be interesting to see which player Coach Smart puts Jimmer on defensively.
Chuck Hayes dislocated his left shoulder with approximately six minutes to go in the first half of last night’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks. He grimaced in pain on the court for several minutes, before finally getting up and walking to the locker room with the assistance of training staff.
The Kings big man told Cowbell Kingdom’s James Ham that he expected to be out just a few weeks. However, follow-up tests have revealed that Hayes will be sidelined approximately for the next month.
The injury couldn’t come at a worst time for the Kings, who are in the midst of a coaching change and play the next five of six games on the road. Expect big man J.J. Hickson to get the nod at power forward in Hayes’ absence.
Chuck Hayes went down in the second quarter of Thursday night’s Kings/Bucks game. He was clearly in pain, as the team’s medical staff tried unsuccessfully to put his left shoulder back in place.
Following the game, I ran into Hayes in the tunnel and the news is not great. Hayes informed me that he is out an estimated 2-3 weeks with a dislocated left shoulder and will undergo further testing tomorrow.
We had an audio glitch at the beginning of the recording, so I’ve transcribed Geoff Petrie’s opening statement:
Well thanks for coming out so early on a Saturday morning. Of course I think if you have young kids, you’ll be up a lot earlier tomorrow, but I’m not going to say a whole lot. I think a lot of what I put in our statement last night reflects the way that we feel about Chuck and the odyssey, and having him come full circle back to the Kings. Explains pretty much how we feel about it. Everything that we said before still stands as far as his contribution to the team. On the floor, in the locker room and in the community. So we welcome him back and it’s been an incredible week, I think everybody understands that. But not too long, we’re going to see him out on the basketball court and that’s where he belongs.
He was only a Sacramento King for five days, but Chuck Hayes’ impact was immediate.
“Chuck was that veteran leader on this team,” said teammate DeMarcus Cousins following Friday’s practice at the Kings training facility in Natomas. “Chuck was basically the voice on this team, the most experience, you know what I’m saying? So that’s what we all looked up to.”
News broke this morning that free agent big man Chuck Hayes has been medically cleared to play basketball. After signing him to a four-year, roughly $21-million deal, the Kings voided his contract on Monday following a failed physical. Ailene Voisin of the Sacramento Bee reported Hayes had been diagnosed with a heart condition known as Pericarditis.
After the Kings finished practice today, they reacted to the news. Kings Head Coach Paul Westphal wouldn’t comment on questions about the medical tests and said Hayes is scheduled to return to Sacramento tomorrow. The assumption from the players who addressed media today (Jimmer Fredette, John Salmons and Marcus Thornton) was that Hayes will be back in a Kings uniform. Kings President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie declined to speak with media on the matter.
