San Antonio Spurs’ forward Rudy Gay is expected to return to the lineup after the All-Star Break according to Jabari Young of Express News. Gay suffered right heel bursitis last month and has missed the previous 15 games.
Initial reports, according to Young, say Gay was aiming to return next week against the Denver Nuggets. However, the team and Gay made a mutual decision to hold off and allow for more healing. Additional sources tell Young that while there is an outside chance Gay returns before the All-Star break, the Spurs are likely to stick to their plan.
Rudy Gay initially felt soreness in his right heel in late November, but played through it. That feeling persisted into December and prompted the Spurs to sit him for a game. Gay eventually returned to the court but once again felt the soreness during a December 28th games against the Oklahoma City Thunder. An MRI after that game showed the bursitis.
Gay is averaging 11.5 points and 5.2 assists per game for San Antonio this season. The Spurs are 24-10 when he is in the lineup and recently scored a season-low 78 points in a loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. Spurs’ general manager R.C. Buford acknowledged that the team misses Gay’s scoring ability.
“We need what he can bring from a scoring standpoint offensively,” Buford told the Express-News earlier this month. “There are areas that, when he plays well, we can really take advantage of.”
San Antonio is already without superstar forward Kawhi Leonard, who has not fully recovered from a quad injury. The nature of that situation is oddly very cloudy, with rumors of discontent between Leonard and the Spurs.
