The Portland Trail Blazers may be the biggest surprise in the NBA so far this season. Some people had them picked to be one of the worst teams in the NBA, but instead they are 35-33 and currently sit in sixth place in the Western Conference.
The Blazers came into the season loaded with young, unproven talent and those guys have all stepped up to make this a legitimate playoff team. Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum are the guys that get the most publicity and rightfully so but they have other young players contributing a lot like Meyers Leonard.
Leonard is a guy the Blazers are extremely high on as they believe his potential is huge. At the beginning of the year the 7-foot-1 power forward was starting, but he injured his shoulder and has since been coming off the bench in favor of Moe Harkless. Leonard has been playing very well recently but may have to miss some more time as he separated his shoulder again.
It is the same shoulder that Leonard separated earlier in the season and it happened during practice when he says he was "hit the wrong way". Leonard has said that he dislocates his shoulder "once a year, every year" which means that he is likely used to the pain and can deal with it better than most. Having said that though, Leonard did miss a couple of weeks with the same injury earlier in the season. The Blazers are unsure if the fact that he suffered this same injury earlier in the season will impact his timetable for a return but it does seem logical that it would.
The 24-year-old forward has already been ruled out for the Blazers game on Thursday night against the Spurs which isn't a surprise, but the Blazers haven't given a timetable. It would be logical to think that Leonard will miss at least the same amount of time as the last time he hurt his shoulder (7 games) but it doesn't seem like this injury should be season-ending.
Leonard only plays a little more than 20 minutes per game off the bench but he is still an important part of the team. If the Blazers want any chance to pull off an upset in the first round of the playoffs this year they will need him to produce the way he has recently (more than 9 points and 6 rebounds per game). These shoulder issues seem like they will be a long-term concern for Leonard based on the frequency with which they happen and that doesn't bode well for the Blazers or him, as he is set to become an unrestricted free agent after this season.
