Houston Rockets centre Steven Adams underwent season ending surgery on his left ankle to correct an injury sustained on January 18th.
Adams went down awkwardly while guarding Zion Williamson in his team’s win over New Orleans 10 days ago, and had been seeking multiple opinions on what the best path to recovery would be. Ultimately it became evident that surgery was the only viable option to avoid longterm issues, meaning the 32 year old is officially done for the 2025-26 NBA season.
“Sprained ankle. Lots of swelling already. Nothing broken. Not a high ankle sprain, not sure about everything, as far as time-wise,” head coach Ime Udoka told reporters following the contest. Athletic trainer Jeff Stotts later tweeted out “The Rockets confirmed center Steven Adams is dealing with a Grade 3 ankle sprain, an injury marked by a complete tear of at least one of the ankle ligaments.”
Currently averaging 5.8pts/8.6reb per game, Adams has played an important reserve role for Houston this season, providing good veteran leadership off the bench to the tune of 22.8 minutes per game. Luckily for the Rockets, they’re perhaps deepest roster in the league at the centre position, as Clint Capela will now see an uptick in minutes behind starter Alperen Sengun.
The team could also look to play Jabari Smith Jr. at the 5 spot if they opt to go with a “smaller” lineup. Nevertheless, losing another veteran contributor is less than ideal for a squad already without Fred Van Fleet who continues to recover from a torn ACL.
Even without those two pieces, Houston continues to hum along, sporting a 28-16 record which is good for the 4th seed in the Western Conference. Since losing Adams, the team is 4-1 with their lone loss coming on the road against Philadelphia in a 128-122 OT thriller.
Up next for Houston is a Wednesday night showdown with the San Antonio Spurs at 9:30pm ET.
Photo: Keith. This file is made available under the Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication.