Jeremiah Robinson-Earl returns to the floor, explains his injury

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl #50 of the Oklahoma City Thunder. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl #50 of the Oklahoma City Thunder. (Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been without Jeremiah Robinson-Earl since December 12th after the Villanova product suffered an ankle sprain. Since then, Robinson-Earl has not played in a five-on-five game until today as the 2021 second-round pick returned to the hardwood with the Oklahoma City Blue.

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl explained that he has been on the shelf for so long due to his ankle sprain, a grade 3. “it was pretty bad; I wanted to be out there as fast as possible…but I am glad we took the right routine and the right amount of time to get it 100 percent.”

The Oklahoma City Thunder are close to seeing one of their big men returning to the NBA level as Jeremiah Robinson-Earl plays for the OKC Blue Saturday for his first game since mid-December.

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl returned for the OKC Blue, playing 20 minutes, scoring 16 points, hauling in three rebounds, three assists, and swatting away two shots while going 2-for-2 from beyond the arc, 7-of-11 total from the floor.

The big man looked good out there, scrapping for rebounds, being the roll man in the pick-and-roll, and playing some solid defense mainly matched up on seven-foot 245-pound center Neemias Queta who was also in that 2021 NBA Draft class.

“Feels great; it has been almost two months; it has been nice being able to do what I love, be out there hooping.” Jeremiah Robinson-Earl told me how it felt to be back on the floor.

Robinson-Earl said it felt great to win today, so I asked him about his hometown Kansas City Chiefs getting a win in which he was on the sidelines with Thunder teammate Josh Giddey “it was fun; they were not liking the cold. It was less than ten degrees, but it was a lot of fun to see the Chiefs make the Super Bowl; they have to finish it off.”

Jeremiah Robinson-Earl did not make a bet with Darius Bazley, an Ohioan and Bengals fan, who was also in attendance for the Chiefs vs. Bengals game. Robinson-Earl plans to watch Patrick Mahomes in the Super Bowl from his house.