Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe has suffered a small posterior labral tear in his left shoulder and is expected to miss the beginning of the season, the team announced Saturday. An MRI this week confirmed the tear.
Sharpe will begin rehabbing and is expected to miss four to six weeks, the team added. The Trail Blazers open their regular season on Oct. 23 against the Golden State Warriors.
Sharpe, 21, had a breakout season last year for a rebuilding Portland squad. In 32 games (25 starts), he averaged career highs of 15.9 points, 5.0 rebounds, 2.9 assists, and 33.1 minutes per contest.
Shaedon Sharpe has suffered a small posterior labral tear in his left shoulder, an MRI confirmed this week.
Sharpe will begin rehabilitation and is expected to miss 4-6 weeks.
— Portland Trail Blazers (@trailblazers) October 5, 2024
However, he played sparingly after suffering an abdominal strain in December. He eventually underwent surgery in February and missed the rest of the season.
The 6-foot-6 Sharpe posted season highs of 29 points and 10 rebounds at the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 30, 2023. He finished 11-of-15 (73.3%) shooting from the floor and drained four 3-pointers.
Portland selected Sharpe seventh overall in the 2022 NBA draft out of the University of Kentucky.
Portland Trail Blazers guard Shaedon Sharpe averaged 9.9 points, 3.0 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game in his rookie season
Although Sharpe did not play at Kentucky, he did average 22.6 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.7 assists at the 2021 Nike Elite Youth Basketball League and helped the Canadian National Team win silver at the 2019 FIBA U16 America’s Championship.
“From a young age, I’ve always dreamed of playing in the NBA,” said Sharpe in his post-draft press conference. “My dream came true, so I’m just really excited. But I can’t wait to get to Portland and get started.”
In Portland’s 120-80 loss to the Sacramento Kings on March 29, 2023, he recorded a career-high 30 points on 10-of-27 (37%) shooting from the field, 6-of-13 (46.2%) from 3-point range, and all four made free throws.
“Shaedon is an incredible talent, and we’re really excited about his future,” said Trail Blazers general manager Joe Cronin. “A unique situation with Shaedon where he didn’t play college basketball, so wasn’t seen or evaluated nearly as much as a lot of these other guys.
“But we were lucky enough to have a pretty good foundation built on Shaedon through our past viewings, specifically some of the new people we hired who had seen him quite a bit.”
In July 2022, Sharpe signed a four-year, $27.34 million rookie-scale contract. His 2024-25 team option worth $6.61 million was exercised last October. The deadline for his $8.39 million club option for 2025-26 is Oct. 31, 2024.
