The news on Stuckey certainly could have been worse: After surgery to repair a left-hand fracture performed Thursday by Dr. John Wagner at Oakland Regional Hospital, Stuckey’s hand was placed in a splint and the estimate of six weeks for his return to the Pistons was made.

Stuckey injured himself late in the third quarter of the Pistons’ final preseason game on Wednesday night, though no one – Stuckey included – was quite sure how it happened. One minute Stuckey was attempting to evade a screen being set by Washington’s Andray Blatche, and the next he was wincing noticeably and running toward the Pistons’ bench with his left arm immobile at his side.

“I have no clue” what happened,” Stuckey said. “It was instant paint. This is the first thing I’ve broken on my body.”

Stuckey had played a sublime second quarter, scoring 10 points on 5 of 7 shooting and grabbing four rebounds. He’d re-entered the game just 1:23 before play was stopped in the third quarter so Pistons strength coach Arnie Kander could attend to his injury.

If Stuckey indeed returns in six weeks, he’d miss 17 games – approximately 20 percent of the NBA season. But if six weeks means that’s when he’s cleared for practice, he’d probably miss another few games, at least. The Pistons play 14 games in November and four more in the first week of December. They play at New Orleans on Dec. 5 – six weeks to the day of his injury – and return home to play Chicago on Dec. 7.

“Things happen,” Stuckey said after Wednesday’s game, his hand and forearm heavily wrapped in an Ace bandage. “I’m just going to bounce back and do what I’ve got to do to get my hand stronger.”

In Stuckey’s absence, Flip Murray will assume the backup role to Chauncey Billups at point guard. Murray, having an impressive camp after reporting about 15 pounds lighter than a season ago, had been battling rookie Arron Afflalo for minutes behind Rip Hamilton at shooting guard.

The 6-foot-5 Stuckey, the 15th pick in last June’s draft out of Eastern Washington, had appeared in eight preseason games, averaging 12.1 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 1.25 steals in 25.8 minutes per game.