New Orleans (20-21) is pleased to be getting Anthony Davis back in its starting lineup Wednesday against the Los Angeles Lakers, but the Pelicans are simultaneously losing one of their other key players to injury. The team announced prior to tip-off that point guard Jrue Holiday is expected to be sidelined for the next 2-4 weeks, a span that could mean he’s out until at least the All-Star break.
Holiday is out due to a stress reaction in his right ankle, an injury to the same leg he underwent surgery last season for a stress fracture in his tibia.
“What he felt wasn’t getting better,” Pelicans Coach Monty Williams said of the Holiday injury that kept him out for the team’s four recent games. “I’m not sure how you connect the two (injuries), I just know it’s tough on Jrue, because he’s playing really well and he’s a big part of what we do… He had surgery on that leg. I can see where you can connect the dots that it’s the same leg.”
Williams and the Pelicans had been hopeful that Holiday might return recently, but his condition did not progress, causing him to undergo testing in New Orleans on Tuesday.
“He was listed as day-to-day, but he never got better, for us to be able to put him back on the floor,” Williams said. “He had more testing done. He’s going to be out for two weeks, maybe more, to see if the symptoms go away and that reaction comes down.”
Other pregame notes from Wednesday:
- Williams on the decision for Davis to return tonight from injury: “He had a great workout yesterday on an off day with Coach Kevin (Hanson). We would never put him in harm’s way. He came in this morning and didn’t have any residual negative effects. If I felt like he wasn’t going to be effective or he was going to do himself harm, I’d pull him. We care too much about our guys to jeopardize their future.”
- Kobe Bryant and Ronnie Price will both play for the Lakers. They’ve been Los Angeles’ starting backcourt since the Lakers got off to a very poor start to 2014-15.