Philadelphia 76ers fans can rest easy. Sort of.
J.J. Redick suffered a “bone edema and a small cortical crack in the fibular head of his left leg,” according to the Associated Press‘ Dan Gelston, and is expected to be re-evaluated in “approximately 10 days to two weeks.” This is either good or bad news depending on how you look at it.
On the one hand, two weeks isn’t a long time at all. It puts Redick back in action before the trade deadline and well before the All-Star break, ensuring the Sixers aren’t forced to solider on without one of their two best shooters.
On the other hands, injury timelines mean very little in Philadelphia. Markelle Fultz, for example, was initially playing through his shoulder injury. And then he was supposed to miss just a couple weeks. Well, it’s more than 35 games later, and he’s still not back.
For what it’s worth, Redick’s issue isn’t nearly as serious. As sources told ESPN.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski:
Sixers guard JJ Redick’s left leg injury isn’t serious and he will likely miss only a short window of time, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 17, 2018
Now this, while hardly definitive, comes as good news.
The Sixers don’t have the depth to navigate an extensive absence from any of their starters. Joel Embiid is obviously more important than anyone. He makes the starting five hum. Ben Simmons, Dario Saric, Robert Covington and Redick are a plus-17.6 points per 100 possessions when they play with him, but a minus-9.1 without him.
Still, losing any one of those five is a huge deal. The Sixers’ second-stringers rank 21st in point differential per 100 possessions, according to NBA.com. And while they’ve been slightly better since Dec. 1, they’re still 18th during that stretch.
If nothing else, the Sixers most definitely don’t have the supplementary shooting to replace Redick, even if they do have the bodies. Jerryd Bayless, T.J. McConnell and Covington are the only other players on the roster shooting better than 37 percent from downtown. Covington is the only one of those three, meanwhile, capable of propping up Redick’s volume—and he’s already a higher-usage sniper. Ergo, the Sixers can only hope Redick’s timeline proves accurate, lest they be forced to be more aggressive on the trade market.
