With the Pistons looking to avoid becoming the first team in NBA history to ever lose 27 consecutive games in a single season, starting center Jalen Duren appears poised to make his return from an eight-game absence due to a left ankle sprain. He’s listed as probable to play vs. Brooklyn on Tuesday, tweets James L. Edwards of The Athletic.
While no player on the Pistons has particularly flattering on/off-court numbers this season, the team has played better with Duren available. Detroit’s net rating in the big man’s 404 minutes this season is -7.9; that net rating slips to just -12.8 in the team’s 988 minutes without him on the court.
Here are a few more injury-related updates ahead of Tuesday’s slate of games:
- The Jazz will get a couple guards back in their rotation on Tuesday, as both Keyonte George (left foot inflammation) and Talen Horton-Tucker (left foot inflammation) have been upgraded from questionable to available, tweets Andy Larsen of The Salt Lake Tribune. George has missed Utah’s past six games, while Horton-Tucker was unavailable for the last two.
- The Wizards haven’t listed any injuries for Tuesday’s game against Orlando, according to Josh Robbins of The Athletic (via Twitter ), which means veteran guard Delon Wright should be available for the first time since spraining his left knee on November 10.
- Kings center Alex Len , who last played on November 13, has been upgraded to available and been cleared to return from a high right ankle sprain, per Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee (Twitter link ). It’s unclear if Len will actually play at all in Portland on Tuesday, given that he only logged 41 total minutes across six appearances prior to the injury.
- Pacers wing Bruce Brown has been ruled out of Tuesday’s game in Houston as a result of a right knee bone bruise (Twitter link via Scott Agness of Fieldhouse Files). It’ll be the second consecutive missed game for Brown after he appeared in each of Indiana’s first 27 contests this season.