Washington Wizards’ center Nene left Sunday’s 96-83 victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers after just 23 minutes because of what the Wizards originally called a knee sprain.
However, as the injury was evaluated, Wizards’ officials believed Nene may have suffered a torn ACL and scheduled an MRI on Monday to figure out just how severe the injury was.
Well, the Wizards got good news Monday. The injury is much less severe than originally anticipated.
After initial fears of a season-ending knee injury, Washington center Nene has suffered only a sprained left MCL, league source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 24, 2014
Nene is expected to be lost to the Wizards for four-to-six weeks, league source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 24, 2014
The Wizards would love to have Nene for the stretch run as they try to finally break through and make the postseason, but they will at least get him back for the postseason, provided they make it. The Wizards currently have a record of 28-28 and are the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference, 1.5 games behind the Chicago Bulls for the fourth seed.
Nene is currently averaging 14.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.9 blocks per game while shooting 49.3% from the floor and 59.7% from the charity stripe.