Cliff Alexander was a highly touted prospect coming out of high school two years ago and decided to play his one year of college basketball at Kansas. After a tough season that included eligibility issues Alexander decided to declare for the NBA Draft but he went unselected. After a good summer league performance and a solid preseason he made the Portland Trail Blazers roster and he could be a good future prospect for them. Right now though Alexander is dealing with an injured knee and recently suffered a setback that may require surgery, according to Jay Allen of Fox Sports Radio 620.
Alexander is low on the Blazers depth chart so he was unlikely to get much playing time with the NBA team anyway but they were hoping to be able to send him to the D-League so that he could work on his game. The 19 year old forward has been dealing with the knee issue for a few weeks now and seemed to be making progress until this last setback.
The injury is listed as a bone bruise on his left knee but based on how long he has been out and the fact that he just suffered a setback makes it seem like the injury could be worse. Alexander underwent an MRI on Wednesday and the Blazers are waiting on the results to determine whether he should undergo surgery or just rest it.
The Blazers as a team are extremely young and many consider them to be in rebuilding mode but they were extremely impressive in their season opening win over the New Orleans Pelicans. Alexander is a guy that, although he went undrafted, has a ton of talent and the Blazers hope they can develop him to reach his potential. As mentioned before he is low on the depth chart, behind Meyers Leonard and Noah Vonleh, so he isn't going to get much NBA playing time but the D-League could be a big time help for his career.
In 28 games at Kansas, Alexander averaged 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in just 17.6 minutes per game while shooting 57 percent from the field. He might be undersized for power forward (6 foot-8) but Alexander has a chance to be a very good NBA player and although it wouldn't be a career killer, it wouldn't be ideal if he had to delay his development a year because of knee surgery.
