Harry Giles’ knee is still keeping him out

Harry Giles will not play in Thursday’s preseason game against the Phoenix Suns, according to coach Luke Walton. Speaking with reporters after Tuesday’s practice, Walton explained that the team felt it best to leave Giles in Sacramento to work with trainers rather than subject his knee to 40 hours of flight time. That lines up with what we thought when it was announced that Giles wouldn’t make the India trip. But Walton went on to say that Harry didn’t practice on Tuesday, and would be held out of the preseason game Thursday.

Walton talked about Harry as being important for the team in the regular season, so some of this could just be operating with an abundance of caution. But it does raise concerns. Giles hasn’t played in a competitive game since March, but is still being held out due to knee soreness. Skipping a long flight to India is understandable, missing a home game against the Suns raises some alarms.

We wondered in the preseason how the minutes would shake up among all the Kings big men, but this uncertainty makes the Richaun Holmes signing even more prudent. We have no idea at this point how much to expect from Giles in terms of minutes or games played this year. He could end up being completely fine, and hopefully that’s the case. I’d much rather spend this year debating how Walton is distributing minutes among five productive big men than discussing Harry Giles injury updates. The Kings medical staff has been very cautious with players dealing with injuries, so we can still hope this is nothing more than risk mitigation.

Cory Joseph also sat out practice with a sore calf, and Tyler Ulis sat out with a hip issue. Both players will also miss the Suns game.