The bad news continues to get worse for the Pelicans, who will now be without second-year guard Kira Lewis Jr. for the rest of the season due to injury.
Lewis suffered a torn ACL and a grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee during an overtime loss to the Nuggets, the team announced Thursday afternoon. Lewis had an MRI after the game to confirm the injury and will undergo surgery, though it has yet to be scheduled.
Lewis had worked himself into a regular rotation role in his second NBA season after the Pelicans selected him at No. 13 out of Alabama in the 2020 draft. He struggled at points, but was on the rise with averages of 5.9 points and 2 assists on 14.2 minutes per game.
The injury adds another hurdle for a Pelicans squad that has already fallen into a pit of despair early in the 2021 season without star forward Zion Williamson, and with Brandon Ingram missing several games. The Pelicans lost 16 of its first 19 games, but had seen a bit of a turnaround in recent weeks. The team had won four of six games before close losses to Houston and Denver.
The Pelicans still have time to turn things around and climb into the playoff hunt, ideally with Williamson back on the floor, but at 7-20 they hold the worst record in the Western Conference and will now have to face the absence of a an up-and-coming young player.
The Pelicans are next in action on Friday when they face the Detroit Pistons, a team that features No. 1 overall pick Cade Cunningham, but is currently mired in a 10-game losing streak, and holds the NBA's worst record at 4-20.
