BREAKING 🚨 Jared McCain suffered torn UCL in right thumb – Tim Bontemps | NBA Today

BREAKING 🚨 Jared McCain suffered torn UCL in right thumb – Tim Bontemps | NBA Today

You’re watching NBA Today. We have breaking news out of Philadelphia. Our senior writer Tim Bontmps. You broke this moments ago. Yeah. Uh you almost can’t make it up, frankly. Uh Jared McCain working out today ahead of media day tomorrow. So after the UCL tear in his right thumb on his shooting hand. Uh it’s unclear how long he’s going to be out, but I don’t think it’s going to be a short-term absence. And obviously for again, we just spent all this first segment talking about the Philadelphia 76ers and the Joel Embiid situation and everything that’s gone on with this team. Jared McCain had a great first two months last year. Looked like he was going to be rookie of the year. Suffers a meniscus tear. He’s out for the season. Really was pretty much the epitome of how last year went. Yeah. Now they’re out without him to start the year. We don’t know what’s with Cinton Grimes who still is unsigned. The Joel Embiid situation, the Paul George situation. It It’s truly groundhog day in Philadelphia. Very unfortunately. It’s just it’s really remarkable we’re doing this the day before media. It is so unfortunate for the 76ers. So again, uh Jared McCain here. We haven’t seen him play since December when he suffered that first injury and now he is an injury in his hand. Brian Winhor, the impact of this on the 76ers before training camp even begins is what? Well, spec typically an injury like this is a four to six week injury. Obviously, it can vary player to player, but very likely this means that Jared McCain will not be ready to go at the start of the season. As Bobby mentioned earlier, the the strength of this team is their guard depth. But, um, you know, because of the uncertainty of Joel Embiid and Paul George, you’re going to need that guard depth. And now that takes a hit. The biggest factor on here is what about Quinton Grimes? Quinton Grimes has been sitting around. now he potentially gets a modocum of leverage because they’re going to need that type of talent. They do have, you know, good depth at uh at ball handling. However, it also could mean some more playing time early for VK Edgecom, their their high lottery pick. That’s one of the big excitement things to look at for this season. However, I’m going to say you don’t expect rookies to come in and instantly make gigantic impact. So, this is another setback and now you have another player that you have uncertainty on when they’re going to be able to play their first game. And if you’re wondering where the the UCL is, if Matt I could show our viewers on your your hand on your thumb, right? It’s it’s right here. So, and it is in Jared McCain’s shooting hand. It is his right hand. So, this is the injury right here that we’re talking about. Bobby, what options do the 76ers have now? Well, Paige and Quinton Grimes, that’s where we’re at right now. Shams reported yesterday that certainly with Grimes with the uh with the qualifying offer that he wasn’t even going to make the trip to uh when they go play overseas here. Does that make a sense of urgency here? October 1st is the last day for his qualifying offer. Do they go out and try to make a deal? They’re they’re miles away from closing a gap on here. And is now is there a sense of urgency with Philadelphia? I feel like I put the reverse jinx on Phil, right? This was their strength and now all of a sudden they lose Jared McCain for an extended period of time. Well, as you said, Bobby uh Bobby said from Sean’s reporting yesterday that it’s unlikely that Jared McCain or that Quinton Grimes is going to go with the team to Abu Dhabi. That as you said, that qualifying offer is next Wednesday as far as the expiration date. Sixers leaving for Abu Dhabi on Sunday. And now we have Jared McCain suffering a UCL tear in his right thumb. All right, a lot of action to get to around the association as players are getting back in the gym. We hope that it’s a little bit healthier than this. But let’s go coast to coast here. We’re going to start with Kyrie Irving. Oh, great. Another injured guy. Well, he was back on the court though getting some shots up. Remember, he did tear his ACL back in March. Tim, until he returns, who should man the point guard position for Dallas? This is going to be really fascinating to see how this goes because I think there’s a real opportunity for or a real chance I should say for Cooper Flag, the number overall pick in the draft. The guy it’s seen as more of a three or a four to be the point guard for the Dallas Mavericks to start the season. The thing that’s really underrated about Cooper’s game is his passing. It’s arguably his best skill. And although it might lead to some short-term pain for them having a rookie handling the ball, I think long term it could be the best thing that happened to Cooper Flight. Get the ball in his hands a ton early with a bunch of talent around him. Well, Jason Kidd did say he expects to to do that when I spoke with him at summer league. All right, let’s stick with the comeback players. Why not? Back in the lab, Lonzo Ball getting after it yesterday. Ready for a season with the Cavaliers. Wendy, what are the Cavs looking for from Ball this year? I’m very happy to say Lonzo Ball is not injured and really impressing his new Cavs teammates and coaching staff. Kenny Atinson speaking this week, raving about his leadership and basketball IQ that he’s already impressed him with. with Darius Garland expected to miss the start of the season recovering from toe surgery. Lonzo Ball could have a more bigger role on the court. But this the Cavs view this as like their Alex Caruso move, like their Drew Holiday move. The last two champions had moves like that right before the season. Well, happy birthday to Cade Cunningham. The 24year-old Piston star set career marks and points and assists last season. He came in seventh in MVP voting. Bobby, what are the expectations for him this year? Well, he’s coming off an AllNBA. And if you’re in Detroit, you’re saying, “What about us?” Everybody’s talking about Atlanta and Orlando. Here’s a Pistons team that was the darlings of the NBA. The hardest thing to do is take that next step to be one of those top four teams. We’re going to see how the impact of losing Dennis Shruder and Tim Hardaway Jr. They do get Jay Ivy back this year. Oh, and the Pistons are one of the more fun stories around the league last year. Did you guys see this? Diane Williamson, he was working out with the Pelicans training camp. And Tim, he’s looking like he’s in phenomenal shape. Could this be I know we say this every year, but I want it to be the cusp of the best season of Zion’s career thus far. Let’s just see Zion Williamson play 65 or 70 games, right? Like, let’s just see him get through a season healthy at this point. If he does that, yeah, it’ll be the best season that he’s had. And look, Zion looks great. He looks healthy. He’s trimmed down. Like, it’s great seeing him doing this stuff in camp, but let’s see him doing it all the way until March and April. If he can do that, Pelicans will be thrilled to have him out on the court that much this season. tough Western Conference that the Pelicans are trying to to crack here. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

On NBA Today, Tim Bontemps joins NBA Today to break the news that Philadelphia 76ers guard Jared McCain suffered a torn UCL in his right thumb.

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