Philadelphia 76ers: Impact of Zhaire Smith’s injury during playoffs
How will Zhaire Smith’s injury impact the Philadelphia 76ers during the postseason?
It wouldn’t be like the Philadelphia 76ers to go into this resume of play at Walt Disney World without any type of adversity. This time it’s an injury and while it’s unfortunate that one of the Sixers players was injured, it wasn’t one of their stars according to Derek Bodner of The Athletic.
Philadelphia 76ers wing Zhaire Smith has a bone bruise in his left knee, per source. He will not travel to Orlando.
— Derek Bodner (@DerekBodnerNBA) June 30, 2020
Smith began experiencing pain prior to the Sixers resuming workouts last week, and he started treatment immediately. He is expected to make a full recovery.
Bodner also tweeted that the 76ers won’t be able to add a substitute player to the roster despite Zhaire Smith‘s absence from Orlando. This injury is a big blow to Smith as he had a relatively healthy season after a rough year of health during his rookie campaign.
Beyond the fact that he won’t be back for the playoffs. Smith’s injury not only has an effect on Philly for the rest of this season, but it may impact his future with the club as well.
Injury’s impact on Smith and the Sixers.
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This injury couldn’t have come at the worst time for Smith. This offseason the 76ers will have to make a final decision about exercising the team option for the last year of his rookie contract. There are bound to be negative financial ramifications because the NBA can’t play all 82 games of their regular season.
If money becomes tight, they may have to end up moving on from the former first round pick that former interim general manager and current head coach Brett Brown traded for. Smith hasn’t been able to produce much and whether it is fair or not, Philly has the right to move on from Smith. While the impact on him as a player could be huge, his injury history may not be a big deal for the Sixers rotation.
After playing the majority of this season in the G-League with the 76ers affiliate the Delaware Blue Coats, I wasn’t expecting that Smith was going to have a major role during the playoffs. In terms of the depth chart on the perimeter, he’d probably be behind players like Alec Burks, Glenn Robinson III, Furkan Korkmaz, Matisse Thybulle, and possibly Raul Neto.
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Smith’s probably wouldn’t have had a major impact on the Philadelphia 76ers title hopes if he’s healthy or not, however, this injury may impact his future with the club moving forward.