The Rockets Reportedly Plan To Be Extra Cautious With Chris Paul, Who Might Be Out Longer Than Expected

Chris Paul was reportedly playing “on one leg” against the Golden State Warriors on opening night Tuesday, and now it seems his knee injury might actually be more severe than originally thought.

Paul didn’t play for the Houston Rockets on Wednesday in Sacramento, and he’s already been ruled out for the team’s home opener on Saturday against the Dallas Mavericks.

And it appears that Houston’s caution with Paul’s knee injury is indeed with merit, as The New York Times‘ Marc Stein reported on Friday that his knee injury could force him to miss weeks, rather than the initial days the team hoped when he left the game against Golden State on Tuesday.

https://twitter.com/TheSteinLine/status/921474340989947906

Stein’s sources are strong, obviously, which is bad news for Rockets fans who liked what they saw with Paul and James Harden working together on Tuesday night.

Missing more than a few days continues to hamper the team’s long-term goal of making Paul the team’s true point guard and moving Harden back into a role more similar to what he played two seasons ago, before one of the more remarkable individual performances in NBA history.

But as Stein made clear in his tweets on Friday, the Rockets are not concerned about regular season chemistry as much as they are worried about postseason health.

Houston’s clearly not the hardest-hit of teams when it comes to injuries in this young NBA season, but it does make you wonder if Harden is allowed to play the point and go back to his old ways, and how much that undoes the work the team put in on its new schemes in the preseason.

With Paul officially on the shelf for a fortnight or so, it’s also been reported that the team has gone looking for some help at the point, at least temporarily.

This would certainly keep Harden out of the one in an official capacity, but he’d almost certainly still be the team’s best option there no matter who they bring in.