The Detroit Pistons begin the preseason at Little Caesars Arena on Wednesday but they’ll be without Reggie Jackson in the lineup.
Detroit Pistons fans will have to wait a couple more days before they can see Reggie Jackson back on the floor. He’ll miss Wednesday’s preseason opener at Little Caesars Arena against the Charlotte Hornets.
After being hindered by knee tendinitis for the entirety of last season and going almost six months without playing basketball, he suffered one more setback which appears to be unrelated.
Per Rod Beard of the Detroit News, the Pistons will hold Jackson out due to a groin injury he suffered Tuesday in practice.
#Pistons Reggie Jackson (groin) will not play tonight's preseason opener vs. #Hornets.
— Rod Beard (@detnewsRodBeard) October 4, 2017
This will push Langston Galloway into the backup point guard role and Ish Smith will start at point. With Galloway moving to point, we may see Luke Kennard get the bulk of the backup shooting guard minutes behind Avery Bradley.
The plan had been to implement a minutes limit through Jackson’s preseason, most likely starting with 12 in the opener and escalating throughout with the hopes that he could be ready to go with no minutes restriction by the beginning of the season. This will set that plan back at least one game.
Dwight Buycks will also miss the game with a hip flexor injury.
Next: 5 goals for Reggie Jackson in 2017-18
The Pistons will begin the preseason with a starting lineup of Smith, Bradley, Stanley Johnson, Tobias Harris and Andre Drummond. Given the shortened preseason’s schedule of just five games, Stan Van Gundy expects to mostly play just 10 players and utilize a normal rotation to prepare for the season.