Tyreke Evans made his season debut for the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday night, playing 11 minutes in the team’s 102-95 win over the Indiana Pacers. While that’s not much, it’s something. And the Pelicans will have to get used to interpreting baby steps as victories.
Evans will not be available when New Orleans plays the Houston Rockets on Friday night. He is on an unspecified minutes limit, and it doesn’t seem as if he’ll be seeing any spin on the second night of a back-to-back, per ESPN.com’s Justin Verrier:
Tyreke Evans told ESPN that he won’t travel with the Pelicans to Houston for tomorrow’s back-to-back but intends to meet the team in San Antonio and play Sunday against the Spurs. He says he doesn’t think he’ll play in Philadelphia on Dec. 20 but will take the court against the Thunder at home the following night.
Slow-playing Evans’ return is smart, even if it was inevitable. He had three knee surgeries over the last nine months, and ended up missing all but 25 tilts last season after rushing back from a knee injury. Though he will be a free agent this summer, at which point he will likely leave New Orleans, the Pelicans don’t do their immediate, ever-faint playoff hopes any favors by expediting the process.
It is unclear how much burn Evans is allowed to get. It might be 10 minutes, it could be 15. Hell, maybe it’s 20. We’ll probably get a better idea during his second appearance, which will come Sunday night against the San Antonio Spurs.
Right now, though, it’s less about the quantity of minutes. It’s not even about the quality of spin. That will all matter in due course. At the moment, the Pelicans should be focused on seeing how his knees respond to NBA action after missing so much time.
