The New Orleans Pelicans will be without a member of their young core for an indefinite period of time, with one report indicating that we won’t see him again this season. The team announced that second-year guard Kira Lewis Jr. suffered a torn ACL and a Grad 2 MCL sprain in his right knee, which will require surgery sometime in the future.
Injury Update: Kira Lewis Jr. will be out indefinitely after suffering a torn ACL and a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee during the second quarter of last night’s game against the Denver Nuggets pic.twitter.com/w7RMMwSfwO
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) December 9, 2021
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, the injury will lead to Lewis missing the remainder of the 2021-22 season.
New Orleans Pelicans guard Kira Lewis Jr. has suffered a season-ending torn ACL and a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his right knee.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) December 9, 2021
Lewis suffered the injury on Wednesday evening during the second quarter of the Pelicans’ 120-114 overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets. At the time, the team announced that their 20-year-old guard suffered a knee sprain.
The No. 13 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft out of the University of Alabama, Lewis carved out a role as a bench contributor on this Pelicans squad. Lewis averaged 5.9 points, two assists, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.5 steals in 14.2 minutes per game, all of which came off the bench.
The Pelicans possess the worst record in the Western Conference, as the team sits 7-20 on the year and finds itself five games back of the Sacramento Kings for the 10-seed and the final spot in the conference’s play-in tournament. All of this has happened without the services of Zion Williamson, who is working his way back from offseason foot surgery.