NBA Roundup: Evans Returns and Smart Injured Again

After a week off we finally have enough news worth reporting on our former Oklahoma State players currently hooping it up in the NBA.

While some is good, more is… not so much.

Let’s get to it.

Jawun Evans

After weeks of recovering from an abdomen injury, Jawun Evans finally returned to the Clippers lineup this past week.

The Clippers are dealing with multiple injuries, as they have all season. Head coach Doc Rivers was glad to have Evans back.

“Just another guard,” Rivers said. “We’re guard light. Having another guard helps us. One of his skills is ball-pressure. That can really help us where we have a guy now who can get up and pressure the ball and use clock, so I think that will be good. I don’t know how much he can give us. We’ll see.”

Evans has been a nice spark off the bench during his rookie season. Hopefully he gets the chance to continue to provide quality minutes on the team through the rest of the season, and isn’t pushed back on the bench now that LA’s point guards Milos Teodosic and then Patrick Beverley are healthy again.

Marcus Smart

Just when things were starting to look up for Marcus Smart.

Smart got the start on Sunday against the Pacers with Jaylen Brown out due to a concussion. But during the game, while going for a loose ball, Smart injured his right thumb. Early reports said it was a torn tendon, while Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting a sprain.

Whether or not Smart will need surgery is still in question. He is the latest in a long line of Celtics suffering from injury with Kyrie Irving, Al Horford, Jaylen Brown, and Daniel Theis.

If he is out for a long time, Smart’s absence will have a major impact on the Celtics. They’ve gone 6-2 since his return from his previous injury, a hand laceration.

Tony Allen

Allen remains out of the league, for now. His absence has lasted longer than I expected, but I still have a feeling he’ll end up with a team by the time the playoffs role around.

And if at least one Cavs fan would be in favor of doing so.

Hey Joe, Why wouldn’t the Cavs jump on a playoff eligible free agent like Tony Allen, who was 2nd team all defense in the West last season?

— Tom Smolko (@spyderdawg) March 8, 2018

“For whom is Tony going to play? Sure, you could name a player or two whose spot you’d LIKE to see go to a free agent like Allen, but the Cavs aren’t going to take jobs away from their own players with large contracts right now. That being said, the Cavs would just have to sign someone by the final day of the regular season for him to be playoff eligible. They’ve done it each of the past two seasons with Dahntay Jones, so there’s a track record. No one has gobbled Allen up yet.” Cleveland.com

While I’m no fan of the Cavs, I would just be happy to see Allen back playing on an NBA court.

Markel Brown

Yes, Brown is still on the Rocket’s roster. No he hasn’t played a game for them for awhile. But he won’t be playing for any team any time soon.

Brown has been hooping it up with the Rockets’ G-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers. However a recent injury will sideline the former OSU guard.

“Vipers coach Matt Brase said two-way guard Markel Brown will be out indefinitely after suffering an ankle injury during Friday’s loss to the Austin Spurs.”

I hope Brown gets another chance with either the Rockets or another NBA team, because I do believe he could be a valuable role player for someone.