Daniel Gafford has been playing through a sprained right thumb, as there have been several instances where you could see him wincing in pain.
If you look at the box scores, you couldn’t even tell that he’s struggling through pain. He’s still putting up points and grabbing his rebounds like he’s capable of doing, but just a few days ago, he had a whopping eight blocks in one game alone.
“With the way he plays, he’s in a lot of traffic in the paint, a lot of bodies going by him; it’s going to get bumped,” head coach Wes Unseld Jr. said. “I give him credit for trying to play through it. At times, I’m sure it’s difficult for him to catch and finish in traffic with that contact.”
Unseld also says that Gafford will continue playing through the injury, as there’s nothing structurally wrong with his thumb.
Still, the resiliency Gafford is showing shouldn’t be ignored, as his defensive presence is a huge reason why the Wizards are in the better half in the league in defensive rating, and it allows Montrezl Harrell to come off the bench and focus more on his offensive skillset.
