Getty PJ Washington is projected to be a lottery pick in the 2019 NBA draft.
P.J. Washington will not play tonight in Kentucky’s first-round matchup against Abilene Christian. The bigger question is how much time the Wildcats big man will miss and if Washington will play in the next game should Kentucky advance as expected.
Kentucky head coach John Calipari announced Washington would not play on the morning of their game.
“The specialists confirmed our original diagnosis that @PJWashington has a sprained foot and there is no fracture. Once we determined that PJ was not going to play today, they put him in a hard cast for precautionary reasons. He is out for today’s game,” Calipari tweeted.
Kentucky has emphasized that the cast was for “precautionary reasons”, but Washington missing time on the floor indicates the injury is more serious than many speculated.
P.J. Washington Suffered a Sprained Foot in the SEC Tournament
What happened to Washington and how did he sustain the injury? According to Kentucky.com, the injury occurred during the SEC tournament.
Calipari announced Wednesday that Washington had suffered a sprained foot in UK’s 82-78 loss to Tennessee in an SEC Tournament semifinal last Saturday in Nashville. The reason Washington did not join his team for Wednesday’s interviews or public practice was because he was being sent to a specialist. Cal said he expected Washington to play Thursday.
The team has not announced whether Washington will play on Saturday if Kentucky advances to the Round of 32.
“No PJ Washington today for Kentucky. Certainly something to watch going forward this week,” Stadium’s Jeff Goodman tweeted.
Washington Has Been a Focal Point of the Kentucky Offense
The Washinton injury could be a huge blow for Kentucky. Washington is a big part of the Kentucky offense and the team’s success has tended to ride with how the big man has played.
Tyler Herro will have to shoulder even more of the load for the Wildcats as long as Washington is sidelined. The Courier-Journal noted the lack of information about Washington’s injury should be cause for concern for Kentucky fans.
First off, Washington wasn’t even with the team, with Calipari saying he was seeing a specialist. One day before the first game of the NCAA Tournament, Kentucky would rather have Washington in a doctor’s office than with his team getting a feel for an unfamiliar arena. That was a large red flag.
Secondly, his teammates had been coached to not answer any questions about Washington’s status. If this wasn’t a genuine concern for the Wildcats, there would have been no problem with allowing someone like Reid Travis to simply say that Washington would be fine and ready to go. He didn’t say that. None of Kentucky’s players did, simply directing questions to Calipari.
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