Jalen Green ruled out of Saturday’s game

The Rockets will be without Jalen Green when they take on the Detroit Pistons on Saturday night due to a right calf contusion.

Green was kneed in the calf early in the first quarter of the Rockets’ loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Thursday night, but he played through it for two quarters until leaving the game late in the third. Green finished the game with six points, his lowest output of the season, on 2-of-9 shooting.

“I didn’t think he was moving especially well after that happened,” Rockets head coach Stephen Silas said.

Going back to last season, Green had played in 96-of-97 games for the Rockets, and Saturday’s game will be the first he’s missed due to injury since a hamstring strain last December. A suspension for leaving the bench during an altercation earlier this month led to his only missed game in more than a year.

In his second NBA season, Green is the Rockets’ leading scorer, averaging 21.7 points per game, and he scored a career-high 42 points against the Timberwolves on Monday night.

Along with Green, the Rockets will be without point guard Kevin Porter Jr, who will miss his ninth straight game due to a left foot contusion, but they will get Eric Gordon and Jae’Sean Tate back after they missed Thursday’s game.