The Portland Trail Blazers have experienced the first injury to their starting lineup eight games into the regular season, as the team announced that Al-Farouq Aminu would miss Wednesday night's game versus the Clippers in Los Angeles (tipoff scheduled for 7:30 pm on CSNNW and 620 AM).
Aminu suffered the injury while backpedaling on defense early in the first quarter of Portland's 124-121 victory versus the Phoenix Suns Tuesday night at the Moda Center. He was listed as questionable with what the team described as a “left calf strain” and did not return. The team has not noted the severity of the injury nor whether Aminu, who is averaging 6.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals in 26.1 minutes per game this season, will miss more than Wednesday night's game in Los Angeles.
“I don't know how long-term things feel, never really been injured like that or anything like that,” said Aminu after Tuesday night's game. “Hopefully in the morning it feel like a miracle and I can jump. Just going to take everything day-by-day.”
With Aminu unavailable, Allen Crabbe has been listed as the projected starter for Wednesday night's game, presumably with Maurice Harkless sliding from small forward to power forward. It is also possible that Meyers Leonard, Noah Vonleh or even rookie Jake Layman could ultimately get the start, though it's almost certain that some combination of those four players will see increased minutes with Aminu sidelined.
Wednesday game will be the second meeting this season between the Trail Blazers and Clippers, with L.A. taking the first game 114-106 on Oct. 27 at the Moda Center.
