Two teams, two playoff pushes and one player who is going to take a quick spin in the NBA G League to on the road to recovery. Rodney McGruder looks to get some burn in a return with the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

McGruder has never shied away from doing whatever is necessary to improve his game and find a way to impact the game in which he wears a uniform. This next step is in order to test his ability to return to game action as the Miami Heat have assigned “The Scavenger” to Sioux Falls to play on Saturday against the South Bay Lakers.

During the preseason with Miami, McGruder was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his left tibia. Surgery was the method of treatment with a long time table for recovery. Just recently McGruder was cleared for basketball activities and participated in his first full practice prior to the All-Star break.

McGruder’s return to the Skyforce will have a lot of interesting story lines. His last G League appearance was just before popping champagne for winning the 2016 Championship. Coincidentally the newly dubbed South Bay Lakers was the opposing team in that fateful matchup.

In between, McGruder played in 78 of the 82 games in the 2016-17 season for the Heat, starting 65 contests. He also earned the scavenger moniker for constantly hustling at every available opportunity.

With 13 games left, the Skyforce ride a 4-game win streak as they head west, just ahead of the Oklahoma City Blue and Iowa Wolves at the top of the G League’s Midwest division. Miami is in the number 8 slot in the Eastern Conference and 1.5 games ahead of the Detroit Pistons as the All-Star Break concludes.

 


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