Injury process strikes again, Smith out with foot injury

The longest enduring tradition in Philadelphia basketball sadly appears to have another installment left in it, much to the dismay of the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Sixers Tuesday added Zhaire Smith to the long list of injured rookies to hobble through its halls in recent years, announcing that the guard “suffered a left foot injury” during a developmental camp in Las Vegas Monday.

Though the club announced that Smith is headed back to Philadelphia to be diagnosed, Yahoo! Sports’ Shams Charania reported that the injury is a Jones fracture and that surgery and a subsequent specialist visit are scheduled for later this week. It’s a similar injury to the one that cost Ben Simmons his rookie season in 2016-17.

Smith, 18, was drafted 16th overall by the Suns in June’s NBA draft then traded for Villanova’s Mikal Bridges, whom the Sixers had selected 10th. The 6-4 guard averaged 11.3 points and 5.0 rebounds in his one season at Texas Tech.

He follows a long line of injured Sixers, many of whom missed their entire rookie seasons. Nerlens Noel, the sixth pick in the 2013 Draft, missed his first season while recuperating from a torn ACL at Kentucky. Joel Embiid missed two seasons after going No. 3 overall in 2014 with a slow-healing fracture in the navicular bone in his foot. Simmons, the top pick in the 2016 draft, suffered a similar fracture of the fifth metatarsal as Smith in September of that year. Despite being cleared to return to action, he spent the entire season on the shelf.

And last year, Smith’s fellow guard Markelle Fultz missed 68 games with shoulder issues.

KEVIN HAGAN — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS 76ers guard Zhaire Smith, right, posing with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver on draft night, suffered an injury to his left foot and is headed back to Philadelphia to be evaluated, the team announced.