Just four minutes into his Indiana Pacers debut, veteran guard Delon Wright suffered a head injury involving two collisions in one play, leaving him bloodied.
With 46 seconds remaining in the second quarter of a preseason game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Wright had the ball near midcourt when Minnesota guard Jaylen Clark attempted a steal. There was a collision between Clark and Wright, with the pair hitting their heads. Wright took the brunt of the impact and appeared to lose consciousness, unable to brace his fall as his head then struck the hardwood floor. He remained down for several minutes.
When Wright was helped to his feet, a sizable gash was visible above his right eye, with blood running down his face as a team trainer escorted him off the floor.
Wright scored two points in his brief appearance and did not return. The Pacers went on to win 135-134 in overtime.
After the game, Wright posted an Instagram reel of a screenshot from the 1995 comedy “Friday” of Chris Tucker’s famous line: “You got knocked the f— out!” along with the caption, “Damn lol.”
Wright is entering his 11th NBA season with his 11th franchise. A standout guard at Utah from 2013 to 2015, he was a two-time First-Team All-Pac-12 selection and a two-time All-Pac-12 Defensive Team member. In his final college season, Wright won the Bob Cousy Award as the nation’s best point guard and was a consensus second-team All-American.
Drafted 20th by the Toronto Raptors in 2015, Wright served as a rotational point guard behind six-time All-Star Kyle Lowry before being traded midseason to the Memphis Grizzlies in 2019. He has since had several stops around the league.
With career averages of 6.7 points, 3.0 assists, and 3.0 rebounds per game, Wright has been a reliable backup guard for a decade. He joined Indiana ahead of training camp to compete for a rotation spot on a roster that will be without star point guard Tyrese Haliburton, who suffered an Achilles injury in Game 7 of last season’s NBA Finals and is expected to miss a significant portion of the upcoming season.
