Utah Jazz: Keita Bates-Diop suffers minor injury setback during pre-draft workout
During the latest round of Utah Jazz pre-draft workouts, promising Ohio State forward Keita Bates-Diop was helped off the floor after an injury setback.
With the regular season and playoffs concluded for the Utah Jazz, all attention for the organization now turns towards the offseason beginning with the NBA Draft. Pre-draft workouts have already been well underway and continued in full force on Wednesday.
Among the exciting participants in Wednesday’s workouts shown below was Ohio State standout Keita Bates-Diop. J-Notes contributors John Keeffer and Zachary Padmore have already weighed in on him with high praise, and the Utah Jazz appear to be high on the 22-year-old wing player as well.
Pre-Draft workouts for tomorrow 👍 pic.twitter.com/Mo3HayPCk5
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) May 22, 2018
Unfortunately, as KSL’s Andy Larsen reported in the tweets below, Bates-Diop went down during the media interview with back pain. He ultimately had to be helped off the floor and it was later revealed by Jazz VP of Player Personnel Walt Perrin that Keita had experienced cramping in his leg as well as back spasms.
He’s getting looked at by Jazz trainers now, but needed to be helped off the floor.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) May 23, 2018
Jazz VP of Player Personnel Walt Perrin said Bates-Diop struggled with leg cramping and then back spasms at the end of the workout today.
— Andy Larsen (@andyblarsen) May 23, 2018
The good news is that following the incident, it was thereafter reported that Bates-Diop was perfectly fine and that the brief injury setbacks weren’t anything to be overly concerned about.
I have good news: I've been told that Keita Bates-Diop is perfectly fine after today's workout in Utah. Just a little back tightness, and he's already back to normal. Good to hear about the #Buckeyes grad.
— Adam Jardy (@AdamJardy) May 23, 2018
Apparently Keita Bates-Diop's back locked up a little bit and he had to step away from the interview, as @andyblarsen reported live from the scene, but otherwise I heard it was a strong workout with the Jazz. #Buckeyes grad has also worked out for Golden State and the Lakers.
— Adam Jardy (@AdamJardy) May 23, 2018
Not only that, but all reports indicate that Bates-Diop performed exceptionally well and gave the Jazz a strong workout. Walt Perrin confirmed as much in the video below as well as related that the cramping began late in the workout after the team had already seen most of what they’d hoped to out of the Ohio State product.
Walt Perrin talks about Keita Bates-Diop’s issues at the end of the workout, but acknowledges that he played well before he cramped up and the Jazz have already done a lot of work on him. pic.twitter.com/n1R6lIJLTz
— Kyle Goon (@kylegoon) May 23, 2018
Bates-Diop has the potential to be a solid 3-and-D pickup for the Utah Jazz. Although he’s most known for solid defense, which of course would help him fit in extremely well with this Jazz team, Perrin made it clear that he believes in Keita as a shooter as well.
He showed as much during his senior season at Ohio State where he averaged 19.8 points per game on 48 percent shooting from the floor and nearly 36 percent from deep. He also added 8.7 rebounds, 1.6 blocks and nearly a steal per game to go along with those impressive stats.
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It’s great to hear that a player the Jazz are excited by in Bates-Diop had a solid workout with them. Even more importantly, it’s good to know that despite a brief injury scare, the young NBA Draft hopeful will be alright.
Rest assured that the name Keita Bates-Diop will come up several times in mock drafts and predictions with potential connections to the Utah Jazz as he fits their mold in terms of experience, skill set and defensive mentality. He’s one of several exciting prospects that Jazz fans should keep a close eye on between now and the 2018 NBA Draft on June 21.