March 11, 2016
Matt Slocum/AP
Philadelphia 76ers' Robert Covington is taken off the court on a stretcher.
UPDATE [Saturday, 1:15 p.m.] -- Covington has reportedly been released from the hospital and entered into the league's concussion protocol. Both he and Grant, also being evaluated for a concussion, have been ruled out of Saturday night's game against the Pistons.
The injury bug hit the Philadelphia 76ers hard on Friday.
First, they lost rookie center Jahlil Okafor for the rest of the season; he'll have surgery to repair a torn right meniscus. Then, during their win over the Brooklyn Nets, they lost Robert Covington, Jerami Grant and Richaun Holmes for the remainder of the game, and possibly longer.
Holmes left in the third quarter and was ruled out with an Achillie strain, but the immediate concern is for the health of Covington, who was taken off on a stretcher in the third quarter after taking an errant kick to the face from Grant, also injured on the play.
As Grant tried to brace himself after a collision with Nets' Donald Sloan, his right heel appeared to whip around and hit Covington in the face. Take another look...
Robert Covington got kicked in the jaw 😱😫😱😫 #Sixers #Nets #NBA pic.twitter.com/aOs2tKk9jM
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) March 12, 2016
Covington was attended to by the team medical staff for quite some time and was placed in a neck brace before being put on a stretcher and taken off the floor.Â
Robert Covington holds up hand, being stretchered off after getting kicked in face by Jerami Grant's foot. #Sixers pic.twitter.com/qVwG1hHLqr
— John Clark CSN (@JClarkCSN) March 12, 2016
Grant was being evaluated for a concussion of his own (and was ruled out of the game), but there has been no update given on Covington's status beyond that he was taken to Jefferson Hospital and is being evaluated for a possible neck injury.
We'll have more once the team provides an official update.
Follow Matt on Twitter: @matt_mullin
