Darius Miller will not be joining the New Orleans Pelicans when the team restarts its season at the end of July in Orlando, the team announced on Monday. Miller is still recovering from right Achilles’ surgery. (Chuck Cook-USA TODAY Sports)
NBA
Darius Miller will not be joining the New Orleans Pelicans when the NBA restarts in Orlando later this month.
The Mason County and University of Kentucky grad is still recovering from right Achilles’ surgery and despite a ramp up in activity in efforts to return, won’t be ready for the time of the restart.
“We are extremely encouraged with the progress Darius has made in his recovery process,” Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations David Griffin said in a Monday press release. “The work he has put in both prior to and during these limited mandatory workouts has been remarkable. We look forward to seeing him back at full strength heading into the 2020-21 campaign.”
The team will have a decision to make in the offseason, Miller signing a two-year deal last offseason with a team option on the second year. He injured the Achilles’ in August 2019 and was expected to miss a minimum of 8-10 months, putting the original 2019-20 season in doubt.
With the COVID-19 pandemic and the season suspended for over four months, it opened up a small window for return for Miller, despite these types of injuries usually taking about a year for full recovery. Miller was unable to get any 3-on-3 or 5-on-5 work in during the pandemic and by the time the team was allowed to have mandatory workouts the start of July, was a little too late.
“It’s hard to tell because I haven’t been able to get on the court much with the virus going on,” Miller said Friday in a video interview. “I’ve really been trying to strengthen my legs, getting in decent shape, as much as I can without being able to play basketball. So right now I’m just trying to push myself as much as I can on the court to see where I’m at.”
The decision comes as the Pelicans will make their way to Orlando this week to ramp up practices as they begin the restart July 30 against the Utah Jazz. The Pelicans are 3.5 games out of the final playoff spot with eight regular season games remaining in the restart before the playoffs begin.
Miller will remain in New Orleans to continue his rehabilitation process.
“I stayed in the city while all this was going on, just to be able to use as many resources as I could during this time,” Miller said. “Because there could be a chance that I could come back and play. I’ve been focused on that pretty much the entire time we have been in quarantine and I’m still trying to do that to this day.”
If his option is picked up, he’ll make $7 million next season on his two-year, $14.25 million dollar deal.
Miller was a key piece to the Pelicans 2018 playoff run when he came off the bench to help sweep Portland before they lost to the champion Golden State Warriors in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Miller then played in 69 games during the 2018-19 season for the Pelicans, averaging a career-high 8.2 points.
His re-signing was signaled for him to be a valuable veteran off the bench for the Pelicans this season, a team that assembled a young core and reshaped its roster in the midst of the Anthony Davis trade to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Miller is set to enter his sixth season when the 2020-21 season begins.
