Trail Blazers Announce Shaedon Sharpe Has Small Tear in Left Shoulder

The guard left his first Summer League game with the injury.

The Trail Blazers announced rookie Shaedon Sharpe will miss the rest of Summer League and be reevaluated in two weeks after suffering a small labral tear in his shoulder Thursday night.

Portland drafted Sharpe with pick No. 7 in this year’s draft out of Kentucky, but the guard never played a minute for the Wildcats this year. In his first action for Portland, and his first competitive basketball since high school, Sharpe only played for 5.6 minutes, recording two points on three shots before leaving with the injury.

Shaedon's first bucket as a Blazer! pic.twitter.com/UzwU8xrO69

— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) July 8, 2022

Because Sharpe has the least experience of every lottery pick, Summer League was probably most important for him to get back into the rhythm of game action. However, it is more important for Portland to keep him healthy, so Sharpe will have to wait until preseason to return to the court vs. another team.

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Sharpe decided to redshirt this past season, with the initial intent to return to Kentucky next year. However, after strong feedback from NBA scouts in the draft process, Sharpe chose to remain in the draft, ending his college career. 

When asked why he never played for the Wildcats, Sharpe said it was all about remaining in shape physically.

“Getting my body right, getting a little bit stronger, a little bit bigger,” he said “My mindset was, get my body right.”

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