Training camp hasn’t even opened up for the New Orleans Pelicans yet (for them, that would be October 3rd), but somehow they already have two players on their injury report. As many of us know already, the first one was budding star forward Trey Murphy III.
And the newest addition to the list is none other than fan favorite Jose Alvarado. On Sunday, it was reported by NBA Insider Shams Charania that Alvarado injured his ankle during a workout. And because of that, his status for the start of training camp is now uncertain.
Keep in mind, this injury is not the same injury that forced Alvarado to miss the last 20 games of the season and the FIBA World Cup (that was a stress reaction in his tibia). So, fans don’t need to worry about this being a nagging issue.
Another thing to note here is that Charania mentioned that his availability for training camp was in question. He didn’t say anything about the start of the preseason or regular season. So, it doesn’t seem like this will be a long-term problem.
That is the complete opposite of the timetable surrounding Murphy’s meniscus injury. He will miss not only the entirety of training camp, but also all of preseason and the first month or two of the regular season (meaning some other Pelicans will have to step up in his absence).
Regardless of the significance of the injury, this news is just another gut-wrenching blow to a fanbase that was hoping that the injury bug had left the organization’s system. We just finished having our season ruined by a myriad of miscellaneous injuries. One would think that the Basketball Gods would be kinder to us in 2023-24.
Yet here we are, not even at the start of training camp, and already dealing with injuries from two of our key rotational players. Hopefully, this stretch of bad luck is just a red herring, and the team will be able to go through their 2023-24 campaign largely unaffected by the dreaded injury bug.