Chris Kaman Injury: Updates on Trail Blazers Center's Ankle and Return

Portland Trail Blazers center Chris Kaman did not play in Game 2 of his team’s playoff series against the Memphis Grizzlies on Wednesday, but he plans to return for Saturday's Game 3.

Continue for updates.

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Kaman Plans to Play in Game 3 vs. Memphis

Friday, April 24

Joe Freeman of The Oregonian reported that Kaman plans to play in Game 3 against Memphis.

On April 22, Casey Holdahl, a digital reporter for the Portland Trail Blazers, noted Wednesday that Kaman would not play in Game 2 because of a left ankle injury. Holdahl and Mike Richman of The Oregonian shared some context for the news:

The Blazers would lose that game and go down 2-0 in the series to the Grizzlies.

Kaman played 14 minutes in Portland’s Game 1 loss, scoring seven points and grabbing six rebounds. On the season, Kaman averaged 8.6 points and 6.5 rebounds per game as an important piece in the big-man rotation.

If Kaman is unable to play in Game 3, or cannot contribute in a full capacity, Meyers Leonard and Joel Freeland will likely be asked to play larger roles behind Robin Lopez.

Leonard can stretch the floor with his three-point shooting, which makes him a difficult matchup for the Grizzlies bigs, especially since Memphis already has to focus plenty of attention on LaMarcus Aldridge. While that will certainly help, the Trail Blazers need as much depth as they can get for a physically grueling series against Zach Randolph, Marc Gasol and the rest of the Grizzlies.

Neither Leonard nor Freeland can rebound like Kaman, which has made life even more difficult on the already undermanned and banged-up Trail Blazers, who are without Wesley Matthews and are dealing with an injury to Arron Afflalo.