Portland Trail Blazers Rumors: Arron Afflalo To Miss NBA Playoffs With Injury?


Portland Trail Blazers rumors reveal Arron Afflalo could miss part of the 2015 NBA Playoffs. The Blazers are already short of depth in the back court, due to the season-ending injury that Wesley Matthews suffered after the All-Star break. Now a report from the Oregonian suggests that Afflalo could be down as well. His injury took place during an April 9 game against the Golden State Warriors. It was very evident that he had hurt his shoulder, and now the news has come down that it is officially a right shoulder strain.

The first-round of the 2015 NBA Playoffs will begin on Saturday, April 18. The problem is that Arron Afflalo has been ruled out for one to two weeks with this injury. If he does make it back on the court within one week, then he should be ready for that first-round series. If he ends up missing the full two weeks or even longer than that, he could wind up missing the entire first-round series. At two weeks, he would miss exactly four games in that first series.

This is really bad news for a short-handed Portland Trail Blazers team. Afflalo was providing offense off the bench but got inserted into the starting lineup to cover for Wesley Matthews when he was lost for the season. Losing Afflalo means that coach Terry Stotts is going to have to dip even further when it comes to a starting five. That could mean more minutes for Alonzo Gee or CJ McCollum in the short-term. Afflalo spoke to the Oregonian following the injury, giving his immediate thoughts on recovery.

“It’s getting close to the point where I need to be healthy. So I’m not really worried. I just want to make sure everything is good. If it takes the smallest amount of time (to heal), we still have about a week and a half (before the playoffs).”

There isn’t a lot of time left in the regular season, and currently the Portland Trail Blazers hold the No. 4 seed in the Western Conference. In the latest conference standings, the Blazers are two full games behind the No. 5 and No. 6 seeded teams when it comes to records. If it remains that way, the Blazers will have to begin a first-round playoff series on the road. Currently, they are paired up with the Los Angeles Clippers, so it would mean heading to Staples Center when the postseason begins.

As previously reported on the Inquisitr, the Blazers acquired Arron Afflalo at the NBA trade deadline. It wasn’t thought that the team would have to put him in the starting lineup, and now the team has to finish at least the regular season without him. There are likely to be more updates from the Portland Trail Blazers as the postseason draws closer, but this injury is certainly bad news for now.

[Image Source: Scott Halleran/Getty Images]

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