Report: Denzel Valentine has ‘fairly significant’ knee injury

Denzel Valentine reportedly is dealing with a bad knee injury that could hurt his NBA Draft stock.

The 2016 NBA Draft is just over a week away and the news on the selection process has been loaded. Most of it has been on which team is going to take which player, but some of the talk has been around injuries. A significant one or two comes up every year and causes a player to fall.

According to Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders, Michigan State’s Denzel Valentine is dealing with a “fairly significant” knee injury. One team reportedly compared it to Danny Granger’s situation. It is still believed that Valentine will go in round one, but his stock certainly took a hit.

This is unfortunate news for Valentine, who was a star at MSU, especially during the 2015-16 season. We’ve seen degenerative knee injuries derail not only Granger, but even former Trail Blazers star Brandon Roy.

As for the comparisons to Granger, the former Indiana Pacers star had a few great years, but peaked in 2008-09, only four years into his career. Granger then dealt with injuries that saw his play deteriorate to the point where his minutes were limited to barely over 20 MPG. He last played in the NBA in the 2014-15 season at age 31.

This history of knee injuries from past players will likely lead to Valentine falling. He could have floated around the end of the lottery picks, but may see his name called at the bottom of the first round. Being selected in the beginning of round two wouldn’t be surprising either, given the smaller financial risk associated with the picks.

So will Denzel Valentine fall in the 2016 NBA Draft? We will see on Thursday, June 23

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