San Antonio Spurs to miss James Anderson, waives Garrett Temple
James Anderson will be sidelined for the next eight weeks after the rookie guard was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his right foot, the San Antonio Spurs announced on Thursday 11 November.
Anderson, who scored seven points in their game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday 10 November, will undergo a surgery on Tuesday 16 November to insert a pin in his right foot.
The injury was a big blow to Anderson since he is starting to play well for San Antonio, averaging seven points a game and have converted at least one three-pointer in their first six games
this season.
“It’s weird how it happened,” said Spurs point guard Tony Parker. “He woke up this morning and told us the news, and it was like, ‘Oh wow.’ It’s bad, because he was playing well.”
Spurs head coach Greg Popovich, on the other hand, was surprised because Anderson did not show any indication that he is playing hurt against the Clippers. However, the veteran head coach
said that they could not do anything about it, although he feels sorry for Anderson because the injury could slow down his development.
“Usually, a stress fracture isn’t an individual event,” said Popovich. “It would be difficult to say when it happened. It usually happens over time.”
The Spurs also announced that they have waived reserve guard Garrett Temple, and Popovich said that waiving him was one of the most difficult decisions in his coaching career.
“Cutting people is always a tough thing,” said the long-time Spurs head coach. “It never gets easier. It is only the degree of difficulty, based on the character of the individual, and Garrett’s
one of the best. He’s a super kid and he’ll land some place and he’ll be OK.”
The Spurs signed Temple last season, when Tony Parker went down with an injury, and he averaged 6.2 points in 13 games, including five starts.
Without Anderson and Temple, Popovich is expected to give Gary Neal a lot of playing time, as well as Alonzo Gee, who has yet to play more than a minute this season for the Spurs.
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