National Basketball Association

Utah Jazz: Good News Concerning Rodney Hood Injury

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 6:25 p.m. ET

Fansided, Jared Woodcox/FanSided via Purple and Blues

The Utah Jazz received some good news on Sunday afternoon as it was reported that Rodney Hood’s injury isn’t as severe as many supposed it would be.

As was reported earlier today on Purple and Blues, despite initial worries about Rodney Hood‘s knee injury that he suffered last night against the Orlando Magic, there were several reasons for optimism as it appeared that the severity wouldn’t be as bad as Hood’s initial reaction suggested.

That good news was officially confirmed this afternoon as Rodney Hood underwent an MRI which revealed a bone bruise, but no structural damage. Hood will reportedly miss tomorrow’s contest against the Phoenix Suns (which comes as no surprise) but will then be listed as day-to-day after that.

This is incredible news for the Jazz as early indications looked like the injury was going to be much worse. While it’s annoying to have yet another Jazzman sidelined due to injury, at least it isn’t because of anything that will require surgery or be season-ending.

Because missing Hood for an extended amount of time would have been absolutely detrimental to the superb season that the Utah Jazz are putting together so far this year. Despite his recent mini-slump, Hood has been phenomenal in his last three games and as the team’s third-leading scorer at 14.3 points per game, he’s obviously a critical piece of Utah’s success.

With Hood missing tomorrow’s contest, it’s possible that Alec Burks will see extended time much like he did in last night’s game with Joe Johnson out for rest. However, it’s still unclear at this time who will start in Hood’s place due to the heavy minutes restriction that has been on Burks as he also works on recovering from his latest bout with injuries.

Burks did show several flashes of getting back to his old self last night, however, as he finished with eight points on 3-of-5 shooting which included one made three-pointer in 15 minutes of action. While his role eventually will be to come off the bench as a solid reserve scoring option, allowing him to log some significant minutes, as a starter or otherwise, in Hood’s absence would be great to help him get his confidence up and get his game back up to speed.

But hopefully it won’t be a long absence as Hood’s recovery time shouldn’t be all that lengthy. Given the fact that he’ll be listed as day-to-day so quickly is a great sign for the Jazz.

And when comparing his injury to other similar instances of hyperextended knees such as in the case of J.R. Smith, Nicolas Batum or the example I mentioned in my previous update, DeMarre Carroll, it’s quite likely that we could see Hood back in action as soon as Friday’s contest against the Mavericks or Saturday’s against the Pacers.

So take a quick breath of relief, Jazz fans. The injury woes seem to keep on coming but this one isn’t nearly as bad as it could have been. And after last year’s struggles with health, the Jazz knew they needed to add more depth to their squad and they’ve certainly made use of that this season.

Although it will be frustrating to have Hood miss some time, it shouldn’t be that long of an absence an I’m sure the likes of Alec Burks, Joe Ingles and Joe Johnson will all do an exceptional job of carrying the Jazz while he recovers.