Harry Giles isn’t healthy. What’s happening isn’t exactly clear, as the Sacramento Kings continue a nearly 7-month dance of vague terms and timelines. Let’s run down the timeline to better understand how we got here.

March 21, 2019

Harry Giles leaves the game after a player runs into him from behind. The Kings called it a thigh bruise. The Kings said there was no structural injury.

"It's not structural. What im hearing is it's just a thigh bruise." – Coach Joerger is not concerned about Harry Giles' injury.

— Matt George (@MattGeorgeKHTK) March 22, 2019

April 2, 2019

The Kings decide to shut down Harry for the remainder of the season. The Kings again said there was no structural damage and no setbacks, simply that he was stiff and they didn’t want to rush him back.

BREAKING: The @SacramentoKings are shutting Harry Giles III (left thigh contusion) down for the rest of the season. No structural damage. No setbacks. Just some lingering stiffness and no reason to rush him back.

— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) April 3, 2019

June 28, 2019

Despite being featured heavily in advertising for the California Classic, the team announced that Giles was being left off the Summer League roster. Kings assistant coach Jesse Mermuys said Giles was healthy.

Kings summer league coach Jesse Mermuys says Giles is healthy and involved but will not play in summer league “so we can look at some other guys.”

— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) June 29, 2019

September 30, 2019

The Kings announce that Giles will not travel to India due to soreness in his knee. The Kings insisted there was no new injury and released a statement:

The Kings just gave me the following statement regarding center Harry Giles III: "A precautionary MRI was conducted on Monday morning which revealed no new findings."

— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) October 1, 2019

The phrasing “no new findings” seemed like an odd choice as opposed to simply saying Harry wasn’t injured.

September 27, 2019

At Kings media day, Harry tells the gathered press that he is healthy and ready to go.

Harry Giles, when asked if he’s still rehabbing:

“No. I’m ready to ball, baby.”

— Richard Ivanowski (@ivanowskinba) September 27, 2019

The team has not made Harry available to the media since.

October 8, 2019

Upon the team’s return from India, we expected to see Harry participate in some preseason action, but he was ruled out for the first game back in Sacramento against the Phoenix Suns.

Update: Kings F/C Harry Giles didn’t practice today and will not play vs. Phoenix.

— Jason Anderson (@JandersonSacBee) October 8, 2019

October 11, 2019

The Kings announced Harry Giles would sit out the remainder of preseason with a sore knee.

October 17, 2019

It is announced that Harry Giles hasn’t been cleared to play and will miss time to start the season

Harry Giles has not been cleared to play yet by the Kings’ training/medical staff. He also hadn’t spoken to the media since media day. Unlikely he will be available when the season begins according to Walton.

— James Ham (@James_HamNBCS) October 17, 2019

All of this could be nothing. We could take all these statements at face value and assume Giles had a thigh bruise that lingered, that the team took it easy, that the Kings had no desire to watch Harry play in the California Classic, that they didn’t want to put him on a long flight to India, and that his knee is just sore now. We could accept all of that.

But given the lack of transparency around what is happening with Giles, and the constantly shifting timeline on when he might return, there’s reason for legitimate concern. There’s enough smoke that one could be forgiven for thinking there’s fire. We don’t know what’s happening with Harry Giles.

I truly hope I’m wrong. I hope Giles is cleared early in the season and plays 70+ games for the Kings. He’s shown so much talent when he’s played, and he’s such an easy guy to root for. I’m just worried that something is wrong and the medical staff either doesn’t know what is or doesn’t know how to treat it.