Kings rookie Marvin Bagley returns but Harry Giles will miss the rest of the season

One of the Kings’ promising young rookies was expected to return to the floor, but the other was shut down for the rest of the season before Tuesday night’s game against the Houston Rockets at Golden 1 Center.

Power forward Marvin Bagley III was cleared to play after missing Sunday’s victory over the San Antonio Spurs due to a stomach illness. Center Harry Giles III was ruled out for the team’s final five games because of a left thigh contusion.

The Kings said Giles had not suffered any setbacks and showed no signs of structural damage, but he experienced lingering stiffness associated with the injury. The team decided to proceed cautiously to allow Giles to prepare for an important offseason development program.

“He’s got stiffness in his thigh that just isn’t changing, so we’d rather err on the side of caution and get to his therapy, rehab and workout regimen for the summer,” Kings coach Dave Joerger said. “Perhaps we’ll see him in summer league or something like that. That would be good.”

Giles’ prolonged absence has caused concern among fans who feared his injury was worse than the Kings had indicated. Joerger insisted that wasn’t the case.

“I think I’ve been very open and up front, thinking it was day-to-day, and nothing’s really changed,” Joerger said. “He didn’t wake up one day and go, ‘Oh, my gosh, something’s different.’ ”

Giles tore his left ACL in 2013 and his right ACL in 2015. He missed two of his last three high school seasons and his first year with the Kings while recovering from those injuries.

Asked over the weekend if the team was taking a cautious approach with his latest injury to protect his surgically repaired knees, Giles said: “You’ve always got to be cautious with any injury.”

Giles sustained the injury in a collision with another player during a victory over the Dallas Mavericks on March 21. He said the injury was painful, but he knew right away he had not re-injured his knee.

“Just a little hit,” Giles said. “It was a tough one, but I knew I was going to be fine.”

Giles accompanied the team on its five-game trip and was seen doing an upper-body workout with weights before Saturday’s game in Houston, but he has remained inactive for 12 days.

Giles struggled at times early in the season and served two brief stints with the Kings’ G League affiliate in Stockton, but he has demonstrated tremendous growth over the past three months. He averaged 9.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.6 blocks in 18.6 minutes per game in his last 10 games. He had 18 points and seven rebounds in an overtime loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Feb. 27.

“Harry’s ability to finish around the basket and certainly make some plays (is something) we’re missing a little bit,” Joerger said. “He’s kind of had a rhythm with that second unit.”

This story was originally published April 2, 2019 at 5:56 PM.