Commenter Brando415 astutely noted today that Paul Harris no longer shows up on any NBDL player page nor does he show up on the Maine Red Claw roster. We know Paul's been injured and unable to play but I don't think we realized the extent of the injury. Back on December 11th, the Niagara Gazette noted that Harris probably wasn't going to see any playing time this season.
Late last week, Harris was told that he had a torn ligament that needed season-ending surgery. Harris sought a second opinion from one of the Boston Celtics’ team physicians and was told his initial injury had worsened, but could heal on its own with proper care.
Harris first hurt his ankle Sept. 22 playing pickup games with members of the Utah Jazz in preparation for training camp. When Harris was waived by the Jazz on Oct. 22, he thought he was a couple weeks away from a return to action, and started going to Niagara University to work on his shooting.
"I didn’t know at the time, but that made it worse," Harris said. "Now, all I can do is swim and get treatment until its 100 percent better."
Given the prognosis and the sparse roster space available to the Red Claws, who drafted Harris with their first pick in the past NBDL draft, they apparently came to a mutual agreement. The Claws waived Harris but retained his NBDL rights so that if he's ready to play at some point in the foreseeable future and there's roster space, he can rejoin the team. One Cuse player enters the NDBL, one leaves...
Shame. It's always something with Paul though, isn't it?
H/T: The CMSB