Nolan Smith Suffered a Concussion During Summer League Game


Blazers point guard guard Nolan Smith was rushed to hospital after taking an elbow to the head last night during a Summer League game, and he was diagnosed with a concussion. Per the Oregonian: “Summer league took a scary turn for the Trail Blazers on Tuesday night, when Nolan Smith was wheeled off the arena floor on a stretcher and rushed to an area hospital after taking an elbow to the head and collapsing to the court. Smith suffered a concussion during the incident, but was released from the hospital late Tuesday night after CT scan results came back normal and he had full range of motion. ‘It hurts my heart to see him go down because I know how hard he works,’ Blazers rookie point guard Damian Lillard said. ‘I know how good of a guy he is. You never want to see one of your soldiers go down.’ Smith suffered his injury while driving to the basket on offense late in the Blazers’ 99-88 loss to the Houston Rockets at Cox Pavilion. He charged the basket from the left side and elevated for a shot when Rockets guard Zoran Dragic clocked him in the head with what appeared to be an inadvertent elbow. Instantly, Smith staggered toward the stanchion, bumped into it and took three steps out of bounds before collapsing to the floor with about 49 seconds remaining in the game. Tournament officials called the game following the incident.”