After a slow start to the season where he struggled to get minutes on a deep Rockets team — one that sent him to the G-League for a while — Reed Sheppard had started to find a groove in the last month. In his last five games he’s averaged 7.2 points a night getting 14 minutes of run a night.
Now he will be out at least a month, and likely longer, with a fractured thumb, something Rockets coach Ime Udoka said on Saturday. Udoka said the injury occurred when Reed tried to slap the ball out of Zion Williamson’s hands against the Pelicans.
Reed’s thumb will be in a splint for a month, at which point he will be re-evaluated. With the playoffs a little more than five weeks away, we may not see Reed for the rest of the regular season (and his playoff minutes would be limited).
Sheppard was the No. 3 pick in last June’s NBA Draft and then was a standout at NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. However, he struggled with the big club from the start and, for the season, is averaging 3.9 points a game. More concerning is he is shooting 27.9% on 3-pointers. He was finally starting to find a groove in recent weeks, this injury is a setback on that path.
