Kristaps Porzingis Will not Make his Wizards Debut against Pacers

While we are past the shock stage of the Wizards trade to acquire Kristaps Porzingis from the Dallas Mavericks we still haven’t reached the point of seeing him play for the team. That again won’t be happening Wednesday night against the Indiana Pacers.

The team announced Kristaps Porzingis will not make his debut in that game. They also announced Daniel Gafford has been ruled out for that game and Rui Hachimura is listed as questionable.

Gafford remains out from his recent Covid issue. While the big man has cleared protocols he is still working on his conditioning, according to the team. Hachimura sprained his right ankle in the team’s recent win over the Pistons and did not return.

Porzingis is listed as having a right knee bone bruise, something he was already dealing with before the trade happened at the deadline. The team knew of the issue and is playing it safe with the big man, which makes the most sense given the situation.

KP has had injury issues in the past and is well compensated for the talent he is, so the team will want to be smart about when he finally does take the court for his new franchise. With Bradley Beal already out for the season, there’s no reason to force anything with Porzingis right now.

He will play at some point this season and that will be both exciting and valuable, but it won’t be happening just yet. Hopefully, after the NBA All-Star break the Wizards and Porzingis feel comfortable and confident in having him suit up.

They should continue to limit and closely monitor his minutes while giving him some off nights but the importance of him playing with young players like Corey Kispert and Deni Avdija outweighs the benefits of sitting him for too long.

Unless there’s more to the injury expect the big man to make his debut soon, just not Wednesday night against the Pacers.