Jared McCain’s stellar rookie season has screeched to a brutal halt after 23 games.
The Sixers announced Saturday that McCain had an MRI which revealed a left lateral meniscus tear. He’d reported knee soreness following the Sixers’ loss Friday night to the Pacers. According to the team, McCain will require surgery and is out indefinitely.
McCain had an obvious injury scare in the third quarter when he fell hard and his head hit the floor. He was evaluated for a concussion and allowed to return to the court.
Clearly, his meniscus tear means he won’t have any further action for quite a while.
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Friday the 13th wound up being a rather hellacious day for the Sixers, who opened the season believing they had the pieces to contend for a championship and currently sit at 7-16. Joel Embiid suffered a sinus fracture during the Indiana game.
After sustaining a pulmonary contusion in the preseason, McCain had been an immense bright spot amid all the injuries and the losses. Over a seven-game stretch in November, he scored at least 20 points in every outing, averaged 26.1 and shot 45.6 percent from three-point range.
McCain's 15.3 points per game overall lead all rookies. He earned the season’s first Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award and played with tons of joy, self-belief and poise for a 20-year-old guard.
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“The joy, that’s just myself,” McCain told NBC Sports Philadelphia in an interview last month. “I love to smile. I just love to have fun with life. I think if you’re not having fun with life, there’s no reason to be doing this. If I’m not smiling out there, there’s no reason I should be out here. I think some people take life a little too seriously sometimes. This is supposed to be the most fun thing ever.
“We only get one shot at it and I’m just going to have as much fun as I can with it. And since I’ve played basketball so long, I’ve always had fun doing it. I know it’s a serious game. I know we’re obviously trying to win and I’m going to do everything I can to win. And I’m competitive, too. But if I’m not having fun, then that’s when I know I need to step away from basketball.”
McCain, Guerschon Yabusele and Kelly Oubre Jr. had been the only Sixers to appear in every game this season.
The Sixers’ one other guard to play off the bench Friday besides McCain was Reggie Jackson, who logged five minutes. Kyle Lowry was scratched late because of back spasms. Eric Gordon was available but did not play for a fifth consecutive game. He's had a poor start to the season, shooting just 32.5 percent from the floor and 23.8 percent from three-point range. Two-way contract player Jeff Dowtin Jr. is another guard option in an organization that's seemed especially snakebitten this year.
There's no doubt the Sixers have seen sunnier days.
