Utah Jazz: Bad news regarding Ricky Rubio injury

Even though Utah Jazz guard Ricky Rubio missed the last three games leading up to the All-Star break, it was assumed he’d be back in action this week. Unfortunately, that may not be the case.

Although Ricky Rubio got off to somewhat of a slow start in a Utah Jazz uniform, he turned it on in a big way just before the All-Star break and was undoubtedly one of the driving forces behind Utah’s impressive win streak. Although Rubio didn’t play in the final three games of the 11-game run, he was instrumental in earning nearly all of the eight victories beforehand.

During those eight games, Rubio averaged 18.9 points,7.6 assists and 5.4 rebounds, while shooting above 50 percent both from the field and from deep. All of those marks were well above the norm for Rubio and what was perhaps even more impressive was the complete 180-degree turn he had in terms of his impact on the floor.

In that stretch, Rubio had a plus/minus of 14.8 and a net rating of 22.5, both of which were second only to Joe Ingles for the best on the team. Compare that to the rest of the season where he’s had overall a negative plus/minus and net rating, and it’s incredible how he was able to turn it around during that spurt.

And although the Jazz were able to win the final three games leading up to the All-Star break even as Rubio sat out with hip soreness, it was quite clear that they missed their starting point guard who had been sensational up to that point. The good news at the time, though, was that since Rubio had been listed as questionable for some of those contests, most fans figured that the Jazz were taking the safe route and would simply allow him to rest through the All-Star break, then he would be ready to go for the upcoming games beginning this week.

Unfortunately, such may not be the case after all.

In what was apparently a long practice today, KSL’s Andy Larsen reported that Ricky Rubio was not a participant. It appears that Rubio didn’t practice with the team as he continues to get treatment on his hip.

That’s not a good sign. The Jazz are no strangers to injury woes and having Ricky out longer than expected after he was just appearing to reach his peak would seemingly be more of the same for Utah.

In a recent piece that I wrote about the Jazz’s playoff chances, I mentioned that two things they’ll need to do to qualify for the postseason is to get the Ricky Rubio from the winning streak back and to stay healthy for the remainder of the season. If Rubio is out for extended time with this hip issue, that would obviously drastically hinder both of those important aspects of a potential playoff run.

Hopefully this turns out to be little more than further precaution and Rubio will be back sooner than this latest setback might lead one to think. The Jazz still have another day off before they host the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday, so there’s a chance that Ricky could get feeling better and be ready to hit the court by then.

Unfortunately, though, the fact that he missed practice today doesn’t bode well for that happening.

Next: Utah Jazz 2017-18 Week 19 Outlook, Predictions

We’ll be sure to keep a close eye on Rubio’s status and let you know as soon as the news breaks regarding Friday’s injury report.