Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard CJ McCollum has been diagnosed with a popliteus strain in his left knee and will be re-examined in one week, according to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. The news is extremely good for both McCollum and the Blazers, as the dynamic guard avoided a serious injury issue.
McCollum injured his knee against the Spurs on Saturday night just a few minutes into the third quarter, as he went to the basket and had his shot blocked by Spurs big man Jakob Poeltl. He landed awkwardly and the baseline cameras caught him immediately grimacing and grabbing his left knee. After being looked at by the Trail Blazers' medical staff, McCollum was helped back to the locker room, where the team soon announced he wouldn't return.
McCollum goes up for a layup and takes a hard fall. Has to be helped to the locker room. We will have updates as soon as we get them.... pic.twitter.com/YZNN8uneW7
— NBC Sports Northwest (@NBCSNorthwest) March 17, 2019
McCollum spoke to media members about the injury after the game and said that the knee didn't feel "normal."
"I went up for a layup, a left-hand layup, and big fella [former Blazer Jakob Poeltl] blocked it," McCollum said, via ESPN. "I landed on my foot, kind of trapped my foot on the ground, felt my knee kind of twist. I was in pain. It hurts. You never want to get hurt, man. Not ever, especially at this point in the season. There's nothing I can do about it but rehab and see what they say.
"I can walk, but I'm not sure what the extent of it is. Obviously, on the replay it's hard to kind of see it because my foot is trapped and his body is there. But there's some discomfort, some pain in certain areas. So we'll see what happens. It's definitely around my knee, but I don't know the extent of it. I don't know if it's lateral. I don't know. I just know that it's not normal."
Although McCollum's exact return date is not yet known, it seems like he should be good to go for Portland's playoff push. On the season, McCollum is averaging 21.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game.
