Danuel House Jr. and DJ Augustin could return to the Rockets in time for Houston’s next game on Wednesday versus Philadelphia, according to head coach Stephen Silas. Both went through on-court workouts prior to Sunday’s game against New York, also at Toyota Center.
Augustin, a 5-foot-11 guard, hasn’t played since spraining his left ankle on April 12. Meanwhile, the 6-foot-6 House has only played in two games since spraining his right ankle on April 4.
“They’re getting closer,” Silas said prior to the Rockets-Knicks tipoff. “With (Sunday) and then two days before our next game, hopefully, we’ll get one of those guys back for Wednesday. We’re pointing probably closer towards House and D.J. Augustin than Eric (Gordon).”
Now 33 years old, Augustin is averaging 9.2 points (36.0% on 3-pointers) and 4.0 assists in 19.1 minutes per game with the Rockets. House, who is 27, is averaging 8.9 points (35.4% on 3-pointers) and 3.8 rebounds in 26.8 minutes. Both are under contract for the 2021-22 season, which could give Houston additional incentive to get them more repetitions with the larger group before the offseason break.
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Gordon also went through a pregame workout on Sunday, but his right groin strain — suffered on March 11 — was considered more serious than either of the Augustin and House injuries. Thus, while Silas remains hopeful that Gordon will return at some point before Houston’s 2020-21 season ends on May 16, it isn’t likely to come as soon as the others.
“Obviously, we want to be smart about it with him being out so long,” Silas said of the situation with Gordon. “The amount of workouts we need for him to play, we’re just not sure about that. But I would like to see him on the floor with the new guys we have. We haven’t seen him on the floor with Scoot (Kevin Porter Jr.). We haven’t seen him on the floor with Kelly (Olynyk) and C-Wood (Christian Wood) together. We’re a different team than when he got injured.”
“With the type of injury he had and the soreness, you don’t want him to re-injure and don’t want him to come back too soon, especially when we’re winding down on the season,” Silas said.
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