For Pistons guard Bruce Brown, the shutdown of the NBA season came at a good time.
He was already dealing with knee and ankle injuries, which had sidelined him for five of Detroit's prior seven games. And once the league suspended play to the coronavirus, Brown opted to have a procedure done to fix a torn ligament in his hand, coach Dwane Casey said Friday on the Jamie and Stoney Show.
"He played with a torn ligament in his hand. He had that repaired," Casey said. "We knew that we were going to be done until at least the end of May."
Casey said the procedure was done about two weeks ago, with a recovery time of four weeks. Brown is in the rehab phase, and he got special permission from the NBA to work with Detroit's team trainers.
"He'll be back as good as new if the league does come back and play," Casey said. "But he’s our only player right now that had to have a procedure done."
Brown, a second-round pick in 2018, has established himself as part of the Pistons' young core. He was averaging 8.9 points, 4.7 rebounds and 4.0 assists while shooting a much-improved 34 percent from three this season.
Elsewhere on the injury front, Casey said Luke Kennard, who had been out since December due to knee tendinitis, was set to return just as the season went on pause.
"The next game he was going to come back and play through his tendinitis problem. He was going to get an opportunity to get those games in," said Casey. "Forget the record and the objectives that we were working on, it was an opportunity to get him back and get started for next year and this summer the right way.
"We were disappointed from that aspect, but, again, it is what it is."
"I'm so proud that Tom (Gores) has done a great job of really stepping up for a city that's in need," said Casey. "The free breakfast program is another example of him stepping up big-time to do our part in these tough times."