Report: Tyreke Evans will make season debut Thursday
The cavalry’s coming for the New Orleans Pelicans.
According to a report by Justin Verrier of ESPN, Pelicans guard Tyreke Evans will make his season debut on Thursday against the Indiana Pacers, his first game action in nearly 11 months. The former Rookie of the Year has been recovering from his third knee surgery in nine months. He will be on an unspecified minutes limit and will sit out back-to-backs for the time being.
Evans averaged 15.2 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.6 assists per game for New Orleans last year but made just 25 appearances due to his troublesome knees. A lengthy absence from Evans to begin the 2016-17 season had been expected for some time, but he is now set to return to an 8-18 Pelicans team still struggling to find its collective identity.
Pelicans head coach Alvin Gentry has yet to figure out how Evans, Anthony Davis, and Jrue Holiday (three guys who all need the ball in their hands) can co-exist, largely because the trio has rarely seen the court together during his tenure thanks to injury. Figuring out how to distribute those touches now that they’re all finally healthy could be just what New Orleans needs in order to turn their season around.
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