More on Meyers Leonard Injury
And he said he didn’t have regrets about turning down the Blazers lucrative contract extension in November. Instead, his mind went to his team, and in particular to its leader, Damian Lillard. “I asked everybody to keep it under wraps,’’ Leonard said, referring to Neil Olshey, the Blazers’ president of basketball operations. “I wanted to tell Dame, man to man.’’ So hours later, as the Blazers prepared to play the Clippers at the Staples Center, Leonard sat on the sideline in a khaki suit and cowboy boots and watched Lillard warm up. And as the star finished his routine and headed toward the Blazers locker room, Leonard trailed him, waiting for him to finish signing autographs.
In the tunnel, Lillard looked Leonard in the eye and consoled him. “I told him to keep his head up, it’s not his fault,’’ Lillard said. “I told him to keep his mind right and understand that we love him as a teammate and not to get down about it. We would love for him to be playing, but at the end of the day you don’t want to be tearing stuff up. He has to do what is best for his health.’’
Meyers Leonard missed his fourth consecutive game with a dislocated left shoulder. Prior to the game Stotts declined to give an updated timeline on Leonard's possible return, but said that Leonard would get his shoulder looked at again this week. "He's going to get a second opinion and go from there," Stotts said.
Meyers Leonard will miss at least Trail Blazers' next three games after dislocating his left shoulder at practice on Wednesday.
Leonard doesn't have a definitive timetable for his return, but he will miss the final three games of the Blazers road trip starting with Thursday night's game in San Antonio as well as the final two stops New Orleans and Dallas. He is waiting for the swelling in his shoulder to go down before getting magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) tests.
Jason Quick: Blazers announce Meyers Leonard is out for Thursday's game at San Antonio because of separated left shoulder
Portland forward Meyers Leonard dislocated his left shoulder Wednesday night during the Trail Blazers' 113-101 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. Leonard was whisked to the locker room after he clutched his left arm on the court midway through the third quarter and did not return.
