“I could just tell by his reaction that it was something pretty significant. He started to swell up pretty good within a matter of minutes,” Coach Wes Unseld Jr. mentioned. “… [The medical staff] treated it several times, they had plenty of time on the flight to treat it and put him in a boot for precautionary reasons. He says he’s progressing better than he thought as of this morning and I know it’ll be some time before we get him back into live action, but he seems to be in good spirits.”
With Kispert’s harm, Washington will in all probability be down two important gamers for its subsequent preseason sport in Charlotte on Monday.
Deni Avdija is uncertain to play as he continues to get well from a left groin pressure, Unseld mentioned. Although the ahead is progressing, he’s nonetheless sitting out the aggressive elements of coaching camp.
Kispert was a shock success story final season after the group initially pegged him to play with its G League affiliate due to the abundance of guards on the Wizards’ roster. He developed right into a dependable shooter who impressed Unseld with his sharp instincts, decisiveness and standout slicing and labored his approach into beginning 36 of the 77 video games he performed.
As a rookie he shot 45.5 p.c from the sphere and 35 p.c from past the arc and scored 8.2 factors per sport. That he was not often damage made him an incredible asset throughout an injury-laden season — solely Avdija, who noticed motion in all 82 video games, performed extra.
Kispert’s absence opens the door for this 12 months’s No. 10 decide Johnny Davis and veteran capturing guard Will Barton to earn extra minutes. Davis had a rocky displaying within the two preseason video games in Japan, capturing a mixed 0 for 12 towards the Warriors.
Unseld mentioned he was not significantly involved nor stunned to see Davis wrestle as he performed him at level guard, which isn’t his pure place.
“I think [this is] just an opportunity for him to kind of step into a role — we talked about it preseason, the way our depth is laid out, it’s kind of tough to pencil in a lot of minutes for a young player right now,” Unseld mentioned. “So he’s going to opportunity, and hopefully he takes full advantage of that opportunity much like the way Corey did last year.”
