The Philadelphia 76ers are an extremely young team that has no plans of being able to compete for a playoff spot this year but their hope is to develop some of their young players. One of those young players they hope to develop is Nik Stauskas who is entering his first year in Philadelphia but it isn't off to a great start as he is dealing with a leg injury that may keep him out for the entire preseason, according to Tom Moore of The Intelligencer.
Stauskas was acquired by the 76ers from the Sacramento Kings for virtually nothing but he is expected to be the Sixers' starting shooting guard. Stauskas was the eighth overall pick in the 2014 NBA Draft and is an extremely talented player that the 76ers hope can live up to his potential with them.
The injury Stauskas is dealing with is a right tibia stress reaction that he suffered during training camp but it just didn't get better. Stauskas played for Team Canada in the FIBA Americas tournament this summer which he thinks could be a reason for the injury. He and head coach Brett Brown are calling this injury precautionary but he is being shut down for at least two weeks so there is room for some concern here. Stauskas will miss at least six preseason games and possibly all seven but he is extremely confident he will be able to play in the 76ers first game on October 28 which is about three weeks away.
"I'll definitely be back for the start of the season and probably even by the end of the preseason," said Stauskas.
Despite the missed time both Stauskas and Brown believe that when he comes back he will be able to fit right in and be a focal point for the team. The hope is that he gets one preseason game in and then plays in the season opener but that is not a guarantee and Stauskas will have to wait and see how he feels after a couple of weeks of rest.
As a rookie Stauskas played in 73 games for the Kings averaging just 15.4 minutes per game. In those 15 plus minutes the 6 foot-6 shooting guard averaged just 4.4 points on 37 percent shooting from the field and 32 percent shooting from three. The 76ers think that with more opportunity to contribute Stauskas should excel. Stauskas' best asset is his shooting ability but Philadelphia sees him as much more than that so they are hoping he gets healthy as quickly as possible so he can be one of their primary scorers.
