Injury toll mounts for struggling 36ers

Adelaide’s injury woes could continue for at least another month, with the club’s GM of Basketball Operations Matt Weston confirming Flynn Cameron would face another four to six weeks on the sidelines.

Cameron has been sidelined with an ankle injury since the 36ers’ season opener against Melbourne, and the club has since sought reinforcements with the inclusion of three-time NBL champion Corey Webster.

“I think each week you tick boxes, especially of an ankle, how you’re recovering, how it’s rehabbing. I think you’re probably looking four to six more weeks, probably around that,” Weston said of Cameron’s return timeline.

“But again, we just take it week by week. He’s out of a boot. He’s walking around. He was doing some layups today. He’s doing stationary shooting. Again, next week, we’ll see how he goes. You just want to take it week by week and make sure he’s ticking those boxes off.”

It’s far from an ideal situation for last year’s runners-up, with Cameron, Isaac Humphries (knee) and Bul Kuol (ACL) all seemingly facing long spells on the sidelines.

The 36ers have slipped to 2-3 on the season, with Humphries’ presence dearly missed.

“I think Isaac Humphries is the one that they miss,” Derek Rucker said on Moments That Mattered, presented by Mitsubishi Motors.

“They just need his size, another alternative inside.”

Weston said Humphries' recovery would be slow and steady.

“Positive thing is he doesn’t need surgery. So what we’ve been doing now is de-loading him and then looking to build him back up,” Weston continued.

“His knee’s, the structure of it … been battered around a bit. It’s angry at the moment on him. It’s causing him a lot of discomfort, not only when he’s playing or training, but then when he’s going home and he’s trying to go upstairs.

“So, you’ve got to think about quality of life as well. So, we’re going to de-load him and then look to build him back up and sort of wrap him in cotton wool to look to get him back going.

“I think it’s a matter of sort of weeks to what we could be looking at to having him get back and try and do something. We’ll know more as we go along.”

Adelaide hosts Melbourne United in an Ignite Cup clash on Wednesday, live on ESPN from 7:30pm AEDT.