The Hawks will be without rookie big man John Collins for at least a couple weeks, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical, who reports that Collins has a sprained AC joint in his left shoulder. While an MRI revealed no tear, the young center is expected to be sidelined for sidelined for two or three weeks, per Charania.
While Collins’ ailment shouldn’t be a long-term issue, it’s bad news for a Hawks team that’s already missing starting center Dewayne Dedmon and veteran big man Mike Muscala. While Muscala may return soon, Dedmon is expected to be out for three to six weeks, so Atlanta will likely have to lean on bigs like Miles Plumlee and two-way player Tyler Cavanaugh for the first half of December.
Here are a few more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Pistons head coach Stan Van Gundy said today that forward/center Jon Leuer, who has been out with a sprained ankle, is expected to undergo a non-surgical process that will keep him on the shelf for another two to four weeks, tweets Rod Beard of The Detroit News. Van Gundy had indicated last week that Leuer’s recovery wasn’t progressing like the Pistons had hoped.
- Nikola Jokic injured his ankle on Thursday night, and while the Nuggets are running additional tests today, initial X-rays were negative, and the team is optimistic that the injury is just a sprain, a league source tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
- Stephen Curry‘s finger injury appears likely to hamper him for some time, but he and the Warriors don’t expect to sit him down for an extended stretch, writes Anthony Slater of The Athletic. “I don’t think it’s something where if we give him a few days off, it’s going to disappear,” head coach Steve Kerr said. “I think it may linger for a little while, so he’s going to have to get used to it.”