Last week the big news in the NBA was the massive amount of trading going on throughout the league. This week the news is unfortunately related to injuries. The former Mr. Eva Longoria, Tony Parker, is out for the next 2-4 weeks after injuring his calf against the Grizzlies on Sunday Night. George Hill should take over the starting duties in the meantime and makes for an excellent pickup as a source of 3's, steals, points, rebounds (for a PG) and assists. He should be able to resemble at least a poor man's Tony Parker while the Spurs' star PG nurses his calf injury.
The Cavs' Antawn Jamison fractured his left pinkie finger on Sunday and is reportedly out for the season, per the Associated Press. Another devastating blow for both the embattled franchise and its fans. Neither of Jamison's replacements should do anything notable. Samardo Samuels is too raw to recommend as a viable replacement. If anything, I'd say the streaky JJ Hickson could be in line for more minutes.
More injury news after the jump...
The Milwaukee Bucks just got hit with the injury bug fairly hard as Ersan Ilyasova and Andrew Bogut are both out for Tuesday's game at least. Ilyasova suffered a bad concussion on Friday, so he's out indefinitely. Head issues are very tricky, and teams need to be careful with them. Bogut injured his ribs in Saturday's game against the Bulls, and it appears he's resting short-term. Keep an eye on the injury-prone Center as he has battled injuries his whole career. He should be back shortly. In the meantime, Larry Sanders and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute make intriguing plays tonight.
The Los Angeles Clippers also have some injury concerns. The injured Mo Williams played on Monday and actually banished Eric Bledsoe to the bench. Williams is the new starting PG in LA, but he re-injured his ankle last night. The ankle doesn't appear to be serious, but if it lingers, Bledsoe is a nice play. Excellent news awaits the Clippers: Eric Gordon is nearing a return. Bad news awaits Randy Foye: Eric Gordon is nearing a return. Foye has been a beast as the team's starting SG and may play heavily while Gordon is eased into the lineup, but it doesn't look good for Foye in the near future. Gordon should be back on Wednesday. Get him in all lineups!
The King's Tyreke Evans is currently in a walking boot and will remain in one for at least two weeks. When he should return is big question mark depending on the play of Jermaine Taylor and Marcus Thornton, both of whom are playing well in Evans' absence. Thornton, who I touted yesterday, blew up for 29 points, 4 rebounds, 3 steals and a block in a win over the Clippers Monday Night. Evans won't be rushed back as long as Thornton performs like this. If you're an Evans owner, make sure you have Thornton rostered.
Bad break (no pun intended) for the newly acquired Danillo Gallinari of the Denver Nuggets. The sharpshooter from Italy fractured his toe and is expected to miss the next 7-10 days. Wilson Chandler, his former teammate in New York, will assume Gallinari's minutes and is an excellent play in that timespan. People are down on Chandler since he left New York. Don't be one of them.
Deron Williams is nursing a wrist injury, but you wouldn't know that judging by the assist totals he's put up as a Net. He even put up a season-high 18 assists on Monday, but watch the injury report daily; the injury could flare up at anytime due to his constant usage of the wrist.
Watch the Atlanta Hawks this week. They could be without two starters early on, or they could be back to full-strength by tomorrow. Kirk Hinrich sat out Monday's game due to a wrist injury (caught me off-guard, otherwise I would've mentioned it in yesterday's column), and Josh Smith injured the sprained right MCL in his knee. Smith is currently day-to-day and even had his MRI cancelled (good news!!). It appears Smith will diagnose himself and determine if he's ready based on how his knee is feeling. In Hinrich's absence, promising PG Jeff Teague started, but he struggled putting up 7 points, 6 rebounds and a disappointed one assist. I wouldn't recommend Teague as Joe Johnson may even steal PG minutes from him with Jamal Crawford stepping in at SG.
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