Doc Rivers Offers Injury Update on Danny Green

The 2021-2022 NBA season hasn’t gone according to plan for Philadelphia 76ers veteran Danny Green. After finishing up his contract’s final season with the Sixers, Green hit the free agency market for a few days over the summer.

After mulling on offers from other teams, Green ultimately decided to re-sign with the Sixers. Last season, Green was a valuable addition to a playoff-caliber team that needed a championship-winning veteran in the rotation.

Not only was Green a decent defensive piece, but he knocked down 40-percent of his threes while averaging nearly ten points on offense as well. In addition to his production on both sides of the ball, Green was also one of the healthiest players on the team as he played in 69 of 72 games during the regular season.

Availability-wise, Green was reliable for Philadelphia last year. But that doesn’t seem to be the case this season. With the Sixers 41 games into the season, Green’s been available for 29 of them. Each time he went out with a setback, the veteran forward missed consecutive games.

Back in early November, Green missed three-straight games with a hamstring issue. After returning to the floor for four games, he re-aggravated his injury and missed the next four games in late November. While the hamstring concerns went away at this point, Green then found himself in the health and safety protocol a month later and missed four more games.

Green was on the floor for four-straight games going into Wednesday night’s matchup against the Charlotte Hornets. Unfortunately, his fifth-straight outing ended early as Green suffered a hip injury during the first half. While he was cleared for return, Doc Rivers noticed right away that Green wasn’t feeling right. Therefore, he was shut down for the rest of the night and ruled out for Philadelphia’s Friday night matchup against the Boston Celtics.

Ahead of Friday’s game, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers discussed Green’s latest setback. While Rivers couldn’t guarantee a timeline for the forward’s return, it sounds like they’ll keep Green on a game-by-game basis for now as his latest setback has been tricky.

“He’s having one of those years,” Rivers explained. “At some point, we’ll probably just have to figure out, make sure he’s at 100-percent or, I don’t know because he said he was feeling great and then he literally comes in for one play and something happens and now he’s out again. That’s a tough one.”

The Sixers are set to take on the Miami Heat on Saturday night. Since it’s the second night of a back-to-back, it's no surprise that Green won't return just yet. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.