LaMelo Ball missed his first game of the season on Saturday as Illawarra fell to the Brisbane Bullets, 101-91. Ball was sidelined with a foot injury that was suffered during practice in the buildup to the contest, though details of the injury were scarce from the Hawks.
After Saturday’s contest, Illawarra head coach Matt Flinn addressed Ball’s injury and sounded optimistic that Ball would soon be back.
“We’re still waiting to hear on that. I’m not sure, I need to talk to the medical team and [see] what’s happening around that space. [From] what I do know it’s not too serious, hopefully, so we can get him back as soon as possible. We’ve got eight days so we’ll regroup now. We’re going to have a bit of change to roster with Darington coming in. He’ll be there this week so that’ll be a good piece for us to add. Hopefully we can get him up to speed as quick as we can and start making some inroads.”
On top of Ball missing Saturday’s game, new signee Darington Hobson was not yet available after signing for the club during the week. Fortunately for Illawarra, the calvary will soon be arriving as an eight-day layoff between games will provide ample time for Ball to likely return to full health and Hobson to acclimate himself to the team and country.
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