Now Luka Samanic is Injured! Wrist? Finger? (Update: Broken Hand)

[D WHITE]

0oapkb

Ahhhhhhhhh, all my boys getting murked

[Seventyniner]

He wasn't going to play in the 4-5 games the Spurs have left this season anyway.

[TheGreatYacht]

Trade

[LCM]

Fuck Harden

[The Truth #6]

Bummer. But Luka has played like total shit the last two games with no effort. This injury seems irrelevant at this point in the season.

[slick'81]

Pop aint playing him anyway. That playin is too big for luka

[MultiTroll]

Fuck Harden
eh Harden got a lot of ball too.
Luka has to learn not to expose the ball. Of course a flat footed lazy hacking phuck like Harden and Donkey Green are gonna swat at that.

[Aggie Hoopsfan]

Bummer. But Luka has played like total shit the last two games with no effort. This injury seems irrelevant at this point in the season.

You're in the prime of your life, just got done balling out when given quality minutes, and your coach is a fucking drunk who sits you for weeks at a time in favor of his wino buddies who are shooting 25% and getting torched on D. Can you blame him?

[The Truth #6]

You're in the prime of your life, just got done balling out when given quality minutes, and your coach is a fucking drunk who sits you for weeks at a time in favor of his wino buddies who are shooting 25% and getting torched on D. Can you blame him?

Oh, I totally get it. Luka seems like a moody dude and Pop’s approach seems to be backfiring horribly. When Luka went on his mini-tear weeks ago, which now seems like years ago, where even the Ringer commented on it, that was the time to build off his progress. But he’s probably been told so many times to “be patient” and he’s likely already mailed it in for the year. Sigh.

[Rocalcio]

He’s just « questionable » so that shouldn’t be too bad.

[Texas_Ranger]

Season is over

I hope Dieng and Diop can stay healthy.

[ginobilized]

Harden is such a lazy and dirty player. Of course, he’s an amazing talent, too.
Harden trying to trip DJ in this game was lame. He was the the one who pushed DJ when he tore his ACL.
Seems like he’s sadistically motivated to hurt players. I hate to see that.

[ace3g]

JeffGSpursZone JeffGSpursZone
(https://twitter.com/JeffGSpursZone) 4m (https://twitter.com/JeffGSpursZone/status/1392888784748957696)
Spurs IR v Knicks - Lyles , White out Samanic is out (left fourth metacarpal fracture) #nbahttps://abs.twimg.com/hashflags/NBALeague_2021/NBALeague_2021.png (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nba) #NewYorkForeverhttps://abs.twimg.com/hashflags/NBA_2021_Teams_NewYorkForever/NBA_2021_Teams_NewYorkForever.png (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NewYorkForever) #gospursgo (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23gospursgo)

[timvp]

Damn, broke his hand. If there's a summer league, hopefully he can recover in time.

[Degoat]

Damn, broke his hand. If there's a summer league, hopefully he can recover in time.

Our summer league team would be stacked with Luka, Devin, Tre, and whoever we draft lol

[BG_Spurs_Fan]

It's similar to Steph Curry's from last season isn't it? He'll probably be out a couple of months , at least it's not his shooting hand.

[rjv]

JeffGSpursZone (https://twitter.com/JeffGSpursZone)Jeff (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=1013)GSpursZone
4m (https://twitter.com/JeffGSpursZone/status/1392888784748957696)
Spurs IR v Knicks - Lyles , White out Samanic is out (left fourth metacarpal fracture) #nbahttps://abs.twimg.com/hashflags/NBALeague_2021/NBALeague_2021.png (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nba) #NewYorkForeverhttps://abs.twimg.com/hashflags/NBA_2021_Teams_NewYorkForever/NBA_2021_Teams_NewYorkForever.png (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NewYorkForever) #gospursgo (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23gospursgo)

reason # 1,187 to hate Harden. Hope that dude tears his hammy.

[rjv]

recovery time shouldn't be more than a couple of months.

[John B]

JeffGSpursZone (https://twitter.com/JeffGSpursZone)Jeff (https://www.spurstalk.com/forums/member.php?u=1013)GSpursZone
4m (https://twitter.com/JeffGSpursZone/status/1392888784748957696)
Spurs IR v Knicks - Lyles , White out Samanic is out (left fourth metacarpal fracture) #nbahttps://abs.twimg.com/hashflags/NBALeague_2021/NBALeague_2021.png (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23nba) #NewYorkForeverhttps://abs.twimg.com/hashflags/NBA_2021_Teams_NewYorkForever/NBA_2021_Teams_NewYorkForever.png (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23NewYorkForever) #gospursgo (https://twitter.com/search?q=%23gospursgo)

Damn.... are they calling it fracture? I hope he gets better in time for the summer league

[Dejounte]

Imagine if the DJ trip led to an injury. Harden would have taken out two Spurs in one game.

[MultiTroll]

Harden is such a lazy and dirty player. Of course, he’s an amazing talent, too.
Harden trying to trip DJ in this game was lame. He was the the one who pushed DJ when he tore his ACL.
Seems like he’s sadistically motivated to hurt players. I hate to see that.
Nice catch.
Push did not look vicious. However....
Looks like besides the push it was Hardens knee kick that caused him to land wrong, popped DJs knee.
Same thing Donkey Green did to David Lee.

https://youtu.be/Ajto95dt2yQ
While neither the push nor the knee kick appear to be vicious nor intentional, given the cheap bitch that Harden is....

[John B]

Nice catch.
Push did not look vicious. However....
Looks like besides the push it was Hardens knee kick that caused him to land wrong, popped DJs knee.
Same thing Donkey Green did to David Lee.

https://youtu.be/Ajto95dt2yQ
While neither the push nor the knee kick appear to be vicious nor intentional, given the cheap bitch that Harden is....

I think DJ has Harden on his head. The guy is dirty. I'm just glad Harden is now in the East and the Spurs don't have to meet him 3 or 4 times a season

[Seventyniner]

I think DJ has Harden on his head. The guy is dirty. I'm just glad Harden is now in the East and the Spurs don't have to meet him 3 or 4 times a season

It seems clear to me that Dejounte just plain doesn't like Harden. I'm not sure what set that off (Harden did push Dejounte on that ACL tear, but it didn't look dirty), but that tweet tells me a lot.

[Robz4000]

Could immediately tell when it happened that it was broken. Fuck Harden.

[KingKev]

Our 12th man who has been unable to crack the rotation and when he has, has shown little on a team starving for bigs and 3 point shooting has a broken hand. Who the fuck cares.

[jjspur]

Time for Kieta Bates-Diop and Gorgui Dieng to step it up, 2 players who have shown as much as Samanic if not more. When those two play it seems like they are playing for their jobs next year which is a good thing. Luka with all his supposed talent seems rather disinterested a lot of the time.

[GAustex]

Diop ain’t an NBA player.
Luka has not proven he is either.

[spurs1990]

Samanic on possibly any other team would've at least gained some PT under his belt.

His 356 total minutes are surpassed by the four players drafted after him by multiples of 6. And those aren't bad teams mostly. Whoever Bazley is for Utah I'm guessing he's a rotational player who's contributed to their #1 seed standing.
Doesn't his coach have something to do with him not measuring up to his 2019 peers, as painful as that's to admit for some Spurs fans.

His injury is just another lousy notch to add to this season of watching Mills and Gay soap up rotational minutes all season long with their poor play never playing a factor in PT.

https://i.ibb.co/sP64zc9/Luka.png

[Dejounte]

Samanic on possibly any other team would've at least gained some PT under his belt.

His 356 total minutes are surpassed by the four players drafted after him by multiples of 6. And those aren't bad teams mostly. Whoever Bazley is for Utah I'm guessing he's a rotational player who's contributed to their #1 seed standing.
Doesn't his coach have something to do with him not measuring up to his 2019 peers, as painful as that's to admit for some Spurs fans.

His injury is just another lousy notch to add to this season of watching Mills and Gay soap up rotational minutes all season long with their poor play never playing a factor in PT.

https://i.ibb.co/sP64zc9/Luka.png

https://twitter.com/tom_orsborn/status/1392972387004583947?s=19

[Kurgan]

Samanic on possibly any other team would've at least gained some PT under his belt.

His 356 total minutes are surpassed by the four players drafted after him by multiples of 6. And those aren't bad teams mostly. Whoever Bazley is for Utah I'm guessing he's a rotational player who's contributed to their #1 seed standing.
Doesn't his coach have something to do with him not measuring up to his 2019 peers, as painful as that's to admit for some Spurs fans.

His injury is just another lousy notch to add to this season of watching Mills and Gay soap up rotational minutes all season long with their poor play never playing a factor in PT.

https://i.ibb.co/sP64zc9/Luka.png

The top 5 picks have the five best numbers. Who woulda thought? And there are still Spurs fans against tanking for a top 5 pick when this franchise was built on those types of players(DRob and TD).

[SpursDynasty85]

Darn he would’ve probably started the last two games too. T.T

[rjv]

The top 5 picks have the five best numbers. Who woulda thought? And there are still Spurs fans against tanking for a top 5 pick when this franchise was built on those types of players(DRob and TD).

as if these past few drafts have had a tim or david (and, no, Zion ain't in that atmosphere).

[Kurgan]

as if these past few drafts have had a tim or david (and, no, Zion ain't in that atmosphere).

Better than drafting middling youngsters with role player ceilings. That's what treadmill picks land you.

Also, the good Luka was drafted with the 3rd pick just three years ago. He's going to be the Mavs franchise player for the next 15 years.

[Em-City]

Samanic on possibly any other team would've at least gained some PT under his belt.

His 356 total minutes are surpassed by the four players drafted after him by multiples of 6. And those aren't bad teams mostly. Whoever Bazley is for Utah I'm guessing he's a rotational player who's contributed to their #1 seed standing.
Doesn't his coach have something to do with him not measuring up to his 2019 peers, as painful as that's to admit for some Spurs fans.

His injury is just another lousy notch to add to this season of watching Mills and Gay soap up rotational minutes all season long with their poor play never playing a factor in PT.

https://i.ibb.co/sP64zc9/Luka.png

Haha bazley is on okc and he's horrible

[BillMc]

I thought Luka was pretty decent when he's actually played. Agressive, flashed good defense, and some court awareness. Not sure where this reputation for disinterest comes from. Wish Pop had given him more opportunity and this setback is a shame.

[Allan Rowe vs Wade]

look at keldon's numbers. pop would play luka if he was ready

[BackHome]

No Pop is just a dick and a shitty coach

[duncan2k5]

look at keldon's numbers. pop would play luka if he was ready
Pop only played Keldon because of injuries to other Spurs last year...before that he was in the g-league...every young player pip has played was because he was forced to due to injury

[GAustex]

No Pop is just a dick and a shitty coach

[buttsR4rebounding]

No Pop is just a dick and a shitty coach

[Blackhaus]

Sucks he’s hurt. He’d probably finally get some playing time these last few games with the Spurs locked into the NiT. I am really getting sour on Pop with his playing time towards Patty and not playing younger players. I mean he couldn’t help himself last night with constantly subbing in Patty.

[Trill Clinton]

https://twitter.com/tom_orsborn/status/1392972387004583947?s=19


I agree with Pop. People want him to play so bad but its obvious he isn't ready.

[R. DeMurre]

"Said it was good for him to get G League time." Luka played 6 games in the G league this year, for a total of 196 minutes.

[The Truth #6]

I agree with Pop. People want him to play so bad but its obvious he isn't ready.

Playing basketball is a good way to improve. Just throwing out ideas. It’s helped LW and he’s not exactly great either right now.

[Trill Clinton]

Playing basketball is a good way to improve. Just throwing out ideas. It’s helped LW and he’s not exactly great either right now.

If we had a traditional G-league he'd get all the playing time in the world. He just isn't better than the guys in front of him and Pop, nor any serious coach is going to jeopardize games to cater to a player with huge question marks.

[jjspur]

Really Pop ? Too young...needs more time. Maybe you should have considered that before you drafted him 2 years ago. I know he doesnt play much except in garbage time and on occasion when pop tinkers with the lineup. He appears overmatched when he plays against starters and some 2nd teamers but with his "talent and skill set" he should be able to dominate the scrubs in garbage time but doesnt.

The spurs have a pretty good reputation for for drafting players that tend to exceed their draft position (like KJ) but unfortunately it seems Luka isnt one of them at least not yet. Hopefully at this time next year Pop wont be saying that Luka is young and needs some more time to develop. At that point Luka will look like a bad pick, however whoever picked him will also look bad. Lets hope something changes before the end of next year.

Lets be totally honest. Samanic didn't make a difference at all last year, didn't make much of a difference this season and probably would not have played in a playoff game unless the spurs were down 20 points with 5 minutes left to go in the game. With pop you earn your playing time.

With this injury, it may give Luka and the spurs time to reflect on the choices made and choices that need to be made for next season.

[Russ]

Samanic on possibly any other team would've at least gained some PT under his belt.

His 356 total minutes are surpassed by the four players drafted after him by multiples of 6. And those aren't bad teams mostly. Whoever Bazley is for Utah I'm guessing he's a rotational player who's contributed to their #1 seed standing.
Doesn't his coach have something to do with him not measuring up to his 2019 peers, as painful as that's to admit for some Spurs fans.

His injury is just another lousy notch to add to this season of watching Mills and Gay soap up rotational minutes all season long with their poor play never playing a factor in PT.

https://i.ibb.co/sP64zc9/Luka.png

I don't know how you embedded that table from basketball-reference.com, but if you do the same for the 2015 draft you'll get another interesting result in terms of first round minutes. (Hint: it also involves the Spurs.)

[KingKev]

Really Pop ? Too young...needs more time. Maybe you should have considered that before you drafted him 2 years ago. I know he doesnt play much except in garbage time and on occasion when pop tinkers with the lineup. He appears overmatched when he plays against starters and some 2nd teamers but with his "talent and skill set" he should be able to dominate the scrubs in garbage time but doesnt.

The spurs have a pretty good reputation for for drafting players that tend to exceed their draft position (like KJ) but unfortunately it seems Luka isnt one of them at least not yet. Hopefully at this time next year Pop wont be saying that Luka is young and needs some more time to develop. At that point Luka will look like a bad pick, however whoever picked him will also look bad. Lets hope something changes before the end of next year.

Lets be totally honest. Samanic didn't make a difference at all last year, didn't make much of a difference this season and probably would not have played in a playoff game unless the spurs were down 20 points with 5 minutes left to go in the game. With pop you earn your playing time.

With this injury, it may give Luka and the spurs time to reflect on the choices made and choices that need to be made for next season.

There is no reflection with PATFO. If Luka flops there will be little to no accountability from PATFO. Picking Luka at 19 was somewhat of a heat check after a string of solid first rounders. Our drafting track record is still sound but this pick is looking iffy at best. Drafting a guy two years away from being two years away at #19 is easier to swallow when you are a perennial contender with 3 HOFers than when you are a 3-4 more losing seasons to being relocated. We probably could have landed him in the 2nd round.

The other thing to consider is not all players thrive in our environment. He may be better positioned to develop and realize his potential elsewhere and I suspect if he still is in the NBA in 5 years it wont be here.

[The Truth #6]

If we had a traditional G-league he'd get all the playing time in the world. He just isn't better than the guys in front of him and Pop, nor any serious coach is going to jeopardize games to cater to a player with huge question marks.

Well, if you’re expecting to make a big push in the playoffs this year, then I see your point. Our PF is pretty locked up with Gay’s excellent play, as well as Keldon playing out of position. I can see how there wasn’t any room for him.

[Dejounte]

Gay's excellent play? WTF.

[SAGirl]

The Truth wasn't using blue font, but you can detect the sarcasm.

[John B]

Wow that's too bad. I hope he gets back early enough for Summer League, which he really made a good push the last time. Luka needs to make that leap for next season to get Rudy's minutes. Spurs are not signing Rudy back, please.

[The Truth #6]

Gay's excellent play? WTF.

Yeah, I was being sarcastic. Obviously, the PF position is far from perfect, probably our weakest position, and Luka could have helped some if consistently given a real chance. Or fumbled, but at least we’d get a better sense of his status. So far, when given big minutes he’s done really well, though he sucks in scrub time for his occasional two-minute stretches.

[sananspursfan21]

Seems like all these guys that Pop’s just sitting on are injury prone. Does anyone think this is conditioning related at all? I don’t know if that would be causation but it seems there’s a correlation between these players that don’t really get time and getting injured. Dejounte, Lonnie, White, now Luka. Could be a fluke, not trying to say one thing or another, just observing. Anybody else notice this? Genuine questions.

[Dejounte]

Seems like all these guys that Pop’s just sitting on are injury prone. Does anyone think this is conditioning related at all? I don’t know if that would be causation but it seems there’s a correlation between these players that don’t really get time and getting injured. Dejounte, Lonnie, White, now Luka. Could be a fluke, not trying to say one thing or another, just observing. Anybody else notice this? Genuine questions.

I don't know how you could do conditioning on your hand other than....

https://media.tenor.com/images/143f0ae46d16894697ad8c4b719e6b01/tenor.gif

https://i2-prod.mirror.co.uk/incoming/article3704071.ece/ALTERNATES/s615b/German-armwrestler-Matthias-Schlitte-Melbourne.jpg

[Sugus]

How stupid to say that a rookie to the league is supposed to "just get better" rotting on the bench, getting inconsistent playing time and role (often going multiple games without sniffing the court), being put in the doghouse at every first mistake, and when not, trotted out as a human victory cigar when the game's already decided. It's hilarious how the "Spurs way" of doing things has alienated fans into thinking it's the only, tried-and-true way to develop prospects in this league. Do y'all think the other 29 teams refuse to play their first round picks? Banish them for a full year to a different, lowly league, detached from the core team, to go on a Rocky-like train-and-play montage? Hell no.... And yet they all manage to develop their prospects too.

I'm not saying the G-League approach isn't good or can't be beneficial under certain circumstances. The Spurs sure make good use of it. But it's ridiculous to think that a player can reach their full potential by always, almost exclusively, playing lower-level competition, not facing any "wall" in terms of challenges, and never getting real, meaningful playing time at the NBA level. Another year in the G-League is not the answer for Luka. Not every prospect is Tim Duncan or Manu, players need encouragement, active playing time, room to make mistakes and learn from them, and above all, the feeling that their coach trusts them to play. Otherwise, you get a Lonnie type, constantly watching over his back to not get pulled, desperate to make the "right play" and so focused on it, that he misses the play entirely.

We were having the same discussion regarding Lonnie last season... And as some posters have noted, it hasn't turned well at all for Lonnie. He's gotten better at a lot of facets of his game, but there's "hitches" that are still there, and maybe always will. He's a limited player, not by his body, but his mind... And Luka looks to be trending down that same path. It's utter bullshit to say that Luka "hasn't flashed anything" or didn't prove shit or whatever... It was clear by mid-season that he was a positive contributor when given the minutes and role; that game against the Knicks where he locked up Randle is irrefutable proof of his ability. Whatever happened afterwards is entirely on Pop's inability to coach up his young players and set aside his trusted vets to make room for them.

Sad to see Luka injured, he might've gotten some extra-garbage time minutes these last two games. But I've grown to know better than to expect these things from Pop, so it's a wash either way, tbh.

[D Emily D]

I would've enjoyed Luka dominating a full season of G league, but he played there a little over a week. I'm not sure why Pop references that as somehow being instrumental in development.

[KingKev]

I would've enjoyed Luka dominating a full season of G league, but he played there a little over a week. I'm not sure why Pop references that as somehow being instrumental in development.

probably one of the only positives he could say regarding year 2 for Luka

[D-Robinson 50 fan]

Sucks that he got hurt right before he most likely would’ve gotten a decent amount of playing time in the last two games.

[Leetonidas]

Seems like all these guys that Pop’s just sitting on are injury prone. Does anyone think this is conditioning related at all? I don’t know if that would be causation but it seems there’s a correlation between these players that don’t really get time and getting injured. Dejounte, Lonnie, White, now Luka. Could be a fluke, not trying to say one thing or another, just observing. Anybody else notice this? Genuine questions.

Lonnie had injury issues in college. White has always been a China doll. Minus the acl Murray has been fine. Fat fuck Harden swiping down hard and breaking Lukas hand has nothing to do with conditioning

[tmtcsc]

The fascination with Saminic is mind-boggling. I'm guessing people are caught up with his height and athleticism in terms of potential but he's been pretty awful or non-impactful against legit NBA competition. His lack of confidence, enthusiasm and competitiveness is glaring to me. He just goes through the motions, makes silly mistakes & routinely gets pushed around by smaller players. For every positive thing he does on the court, he commits at least 3 or 4 bad plays. Terrible defense, timidity..its not good. Let's hope its the lack of practice and not a sign that he's just made for Europe.

On a positive aside, he's at least getting vaccinated. Not sure if it was a first or second dose for him but he was at the old crossroads mall getting a shot. He took a photo with some fans.

[tmtcsc]

Lonnie had injury issues in college. White has always been a China doll. Minus the acl Murray has been fine. Fat fuck Harden swiping down hard and breaking Lukas hand has nothing to do with conditioning

Agree completely. White is not durable & Lonnie is as mentally soft as he is fragile. White has tons of potential and has a great looking jump shot but his finishes at the rim (when not dunking) are atrocious. That's why I don't believe anyone on this roster is untradeable. If we can get legit contributors and it makes sense, the team should make a move.

[Dejounte]

Too bad Luka won't be able to play in these last two games. Would have been great to see him perform well and play good defense like in the other games he played in earlier this year. Oh well, looking forward to seeing him play next year. A very promising player.