Just when things seemed to be looking up for the New Orleans Pelicans, their old enemy, the injury bug, has returned to claim its first victim. Thursday evening, the Pelicans announced that big man Kevon Looney has been diagnosed with a proximal tibiofibular ligament sprain in his left knee. This injury will leave Looney sidelined for 2-3 weeks, and then he'll be re-evaluated. However, it isn't a time to panic.
This was a bit of a surprise, as Looney has been an iron man for almost his entire 9-year NBA career. He played 82 games in the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons, missing only 6 games last season. These stats have added to the trend online that the Pelicans are a franchise cursed by injuries, but I promise you that's a major overreaction.
Throughout his entire time in the NBA, Looney has been the workhorse, hustling bruiser who does the little things and sacrifices his body to make plays on both ends. When you have that style of play, it's eventually going to catch up to you one way or another. To me, this injury isn't a shocker and is just part of signing a 30-year-old whose body has been through a lot in his NBA career.
The bright side is that Yves Missi looks ready to be the guy
Although Looney was New Orleans' big free agent signing and had a lot of us incredibly excited, as he felt like the perfect center for this group, someone who does the little things, is going to screen well, and rarely looks for his own shot. However, at least the Pelicans still have Yves Missi, who has looked awesome this preseason.
The second year big has been efficient, shooting 72 percent across New Orleans' three games. He also averaged 8.7 points, 8.0 rebounds, and a team-leading 2.3 blocks per game in just 21.0 minutes a night. Even though I still think Looney is a better fit for the starting five, to have a quality second option in Missi is enormous for this team.
While the Pelicans aren't as deep at center as they are at point guard, head coach Willie Green should feel comfortable trusting Karlo Matković to now play a bigger role with this team. Matković has been really solid in preseason, and his ability as a floor spacer has allowed the coaching staff to experiment with some unique lineup combinations.
So while social media or Jim, your neighborhood Pelicans fan, may be telling you the sky is falling and this season is already over, it's not. The front office, led by Joe Dumars, prioritized bringing in depth during the offseason for this exact reason, and it's going to pay off.