Report: Injured Philadelphia 76ers guard Josh Richardson expected to miss 2-3 weeks
Philadelphia 76ers guard Josh Richardson underwent an MRI on Thursday that reportedly confirmed the strained left hamstring that forced his exit in the first quarter of Wednesday’s loss to the Raptors.
Richardson is expected to be re-evaluated in two to three weeks, per The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
The Sixers are already without All-Star center Joel Embiid, who underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament in his left ring finger earlier this month. They now must face the Western Conference-leading Los Angeles Lakers in Saturday night’s nationally televised tilt without two of their starters.
"Something will happen out of this, where something will emerge," Sixers coach Brett Brown said on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Tim Bontemps. “The spirit of the group is incredible. I really like coaching the team. They've got a togetherness, and we'll figure this out. Then, in the not-too-distant future, here comes Jo, whatever that means, and we'll deal with J-Rich's injury on the terms I just said."
Richardson is averaging 15 points (on 44/33/82 shooting splits), 3.4 assists and 3.3 rebounds in 31.5 minutes per game after joining the Sixers in the sign-and-trade deal that sent Jimmy Butler to Miami. He was tasked with picking up some of the offensive slack left in Embiid’s absence, and he responded with 29 points in a statement victory against Boston to kick off a string of five wins in seven games.
The Sixers are 29-17, a disappointing sixth in the Eastern Conference after entering the season with championship aspirations. They still only trail the Miami Heat by three games for the second seed, but injuries for any length of time do them no favors in the effort to gain ground on a home playoff series.
Philadelphia hosts the Golden State Warriors before going on a four-game road trip that includes stops against fellow Eastern Conference contenders in Boston, Miami and Milwaukee in the next two weeks.
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Ben Rohrbach is a staff writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at rohrbach_ben@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter! Follow @brohrbach
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