The excitement for the New Orleans Pelicans' season opening win was short lived, after Dejounte Murray got an unfortunate injury diagnosis. Late in the fourth quarter of the Pelicans' 123-111 Wednesday night victory over the Chicago Bulls, Murray was fouled by Zach LaVine on a three-point attempt.
With the initial report being that the team feared a broken hand diagnosis, this would later be confirmed to officially be the case. Now, New Orleans' path forward becomes much murkier without their biggest offseason acquisition.
Of course, the biggest question remaining is exactly how long Dejounte will remain out. We just unfortunately saw the Thunder's Isaiah Hartenstein suffer this same type of injury and be put on the sideline for around five to six weeks. Many probably think this will be the case for Murray as well, but one injury analyst weighed in to provide some clarity.
Jeff Stotts, a certified athletic trainer and injury analyst, weighed in on this topic on X. He writes: Time lost will be dictated by treatment options. If the fracture is non-displaced (like Hartenstein) & surgery is not needed then the average time lost is 15.6 games (35.2 days). If surgery is needed, the numbers go up slightly. (17.2 games, 40.5 days).
Re: Dejounte Murray: Time lost will be dictated by treatment options. If the fracture is non-displaced (like Hartenstein) & surgery is not needed then the average time lost is 15.6 games (35.2 days). If surgery is needed, the numbers go up slightly. (17.2 games, 40.5 days).
— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) October 24, 2024
An athletic trainer gave his analysis of Murray's injury
For context, Stotts owns and operates a website called In Street Clothes, where he covers various sports injuries using analytics. Given that he is coming from an unbiased perspective and that this is his area of expertise, we should have a certain degree of confidence in Stotts' take.
Of course, the x-rays and other scans the team performs will be the key indicator here. As Stotts points out, a non-displaced fracture in Murray's hand would be the best-case scenario, as it would likely only cause Dejounte to miss around five weeks, and would allow him to avoid surgery. A displaced fracture would add around a week to that timeline.
In a stacked Western Conference, the Pelicans will need Murray's services back as soon as possible. They are already vying for position with some incredibly deep and talented teams, and not having Dejounte in the equation will make it much tougher for this team to string together wins and stay in the playoff picture.
Being without Murray certainly creates a tough situation regardless, but Pelicans fans will have to hope scans reveal a non-displaced fracture in their point guard's non-shooting hand.