Deandre Ayton Injury Status For Blazers vs Spurs

Portland starting center Deandre Ayton has been sidelined for two months. He's still on the injury report ahead of a San Antonio clash.

Dec 21, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Charles Bassey (28) shoots the ball against Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant (9) and center Deandre Ayton (2) in the first half at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images | Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images

Portland Trail Blazers starting center Deandre Ayton has been sidelined for two months. He remains on the NBA's injury report ahead of a San Antonio Spurs clash on Sunday.

The Trail Blazers can ill afford to be without Ayton in essentially a must-win game against another Western Conference club that could, technically, still make the playoffs.

With just four games remaining on their 2024-25 regular season calendar, the 34-44 Trail Blazers are on the cusp of missing out on the postseason for the fourth straight year under head coach Chauncey Billups.

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Portland trails the 35-42 Phoenix Suns by 0.5 games, but more critically is 3.5 games behind the 38-41 Dallas Mavericks, the Western Conference's No. 9 seed, and the 37-40 Sacramento Kings, the No. 10 seed.

But there is no catching Dallas for Portland, The Trail Blazers could win out, and the Mavericks could lose out, thus knotting the two teams' season record at 38-44. Even still, Dallas would win its tiebreaker, as it has already clinched its season series against Portland, 3-1.

Sacramento, however, could still technically be surpassed by record, having played two fewer games than the Mavericks. Portland and Sacramento are 2-2 in their season series, but the Kings boast a 25-24 inter-conference record to the Trail Blazers' 17-31.

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Essentially, then, the Trail Blazers would need to lap both the Kings and the Suns by record to sneak into the play-in tournament — as of this writing.

That all starts on Sunday, with this key game against a 32-45 Spurs squad that is technically still alive in the postseason hunt, but clearly has an eye on the 2025 NBA Draft lottery given that both its All-Stars, Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox, are done for the year.

Really, it feels like the Mavericks, Kings and Suns are the chief combatants in the fight for the final two play-in tournament seeds in the conference. Jason Anderson of The Sacramento Bee unpacks all the tiebreak situations for those clubs in a new piece:

Tiebreaker procedures and scenarios for Kings, Mavericks, Suns in NBA play-in race ⬇️https://t.co/Qm9QJbw2Bi

— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) April 6, 2025

Portland will be playing without Ayton, who's been out since February 10 with a left calf strain.

INJURY REPORT 4/6 vs. SAS (1/2):

OUT
Deandre Ayton (L Calf Strain)
Scoot Henderson (Concussion)
Bryce McGowens (R Rib Fracture)
Robert Williams III (L Knee Management)

— Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) April 6, 2025

Point guard Scoot Henderson remains on the shelf with a concussion, while All-Defensive Team center Robert Williams III (left knee management) and two-way signing Bryce McGowens (right rib fracture) are done for the regular season.

In the 40 games he has been available, the 7-foot Arizona product is averaging 14.4 points, 10.2 rebounds, 1.6 dimes and 1.0 blocks a night.

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New Trade Proposal Sees Blazers Send Out Center to Lakers

Blazers Could Send $100M Vet to Lakers in Massive New Trade Proposal: Report

For more news and notes on the Portland Trail Blazers, visit Portland Trail Blazers on SI.