As leg injury lingers, Rockets not ruling out possibility of Tari Eason being lost for season

Ime Udoka on injured Rockets forward Tari Eason: “During the ramp-up process, he started to feel some of the same pain, even with some significant time off.”

When healthy, second-year forward Tari Eason has been one of the most valuable players for the 2023-24 Rockets — a disruptive force at both ends. But he hasn’t been healthy nearly enough, owing to a stress reaction in his lower left leg suffered in the preseason.

Entering Thursday, Houston is 12-10 when Eason plays, and 12-20 when he does not. Eason returned from the initial leg injury on Nov. 8 and played in most games from that point until Jan. 1, but he hasn’t played in any games over the six-plus weeks since.

Prior to Thursday’s game in New Orleans, head coach Ime Udoka was asked about the possibility of Eason being lost for the remainder of the season, and he didn’t rule out the possibility. With under two months remaining until Houston’s regular season concludes on April 14, the calendar is becoming an obstacle as it pertains to the timing of any return-to-play scenario and the associated ramping-up period.

Among Udoka’s comments (via Dave Hardisty of ClutchFans):

It’s strictly based off of the results of the latest imaging that he’s gotten and the pain tolerance. He played through some pain earlier (in the season). He played well, but as he continued to play in games adding up, it started to bother him a little more, so we shut it down.

During the ramp-up process (attempted during Houston’s Feb 4-10 road trip), he started to feel some of the same pain, even with some significant time off. So that’s why he’s getting it looked at now, and based on pending results, we’ll determine what we’re going to do moving forward.

Eason, 22, averaged 9.8 points (46.6% FG, 36% on 3-pointers), 7 rebounds and 1.4 steals in 21.8 minutes per game this season.

After being drafted at No. 17 overall in the 2022 first round, Eason was one of a select few NBA players who played in all 82 regular-season games last year. He earned All-Rookie second team honors.

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