Steven Adams Sidelined 1-2 Weeks With Calf Injury as Rockets Frontcourt Thins Out

The NBA season just started, which means it is officially time for the annual Steven Adams injury update. Houston Rockets head coach Ime Udoka announced that the veteran center will miss at least one to two weeks with a lingering calf issue, according to Underdog NBA.

If you feel like you have read this exact headline before, your brain is working perfectly. Adams already missed the end of the preseason and Houston's opening night loss to the Dallas Mavericks with the same tight calf. Now, the team is finally shutting him down for a real stretch to let it heal.

"Udoka: Steven Adams (calf) expected to miss at least 1-2 weeks."

For context, Adams has now racked up 41 different injuries and missed well over 170 days of action throughout his career. At this point, his medical file is thicker than a CVS receipt. When he is on the floor, he is an absolute vacuum on the offensive glass, but getting him in uniform has become a part-time job for the Houston training staff.

With Adams in street clothes for the foreseeable future, the Rockets' frontcourt rotation gets a very predictable shakeup. Alperen Sengun is locked in as the starter, but Clint Capela will now absorb all the backup minutes in the paint.

For anyone firing up fantasy lineups or looking at the prop market, Sengun’s rebounding floor just got a lot safer. Adams steals boards from his own teammates by pure brute force, so his absence means fewer bodies fighting for the same basketball.

Houston just rattled off back-to-back wins over the San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks without needing Adams to log heavy minutes. They get the Hawks again on Sunday before heading to Milwaukee to face the Bucks.

The Rockets already made it clear that Adams will not play back-to-backs this year. If a tight calf is enough to sideline him for a fortnight in October, Houston fans should probably get used to checking the inactive list before every single tipoff.