NEW ORLEANS (AP) — When Willie Green learned Friday that starting guard CJ McCollum and top defender Herb Jones would be joining point guard Dejounte Murray on the injury list for multiple weeks, the New Orleans Pelicans coach tried to look on the bright side. “We’re grateful that it’s not something that’s going to keep those guys out the rest of the year,” Green said before New Orleans hosted the Indiana Pacers on Friday night. "It’s something that they can recover from.
“At the same time, it’s going to ask a lot of the rest of the group,” Green added. "You’ve got to cut down on mistakes ..
. grind and kind of weather the storm.” McCollum, who has averaged 18.
8 points in four games this season, has been diagnosed with a right adductor strain that is expected to sideline him about two to three weeks. Jones has a right shoulder strain and small low-grade partial thickness tear in his rotator cuff. The Pelicans say he could be out from two weeks to a month.
Both were hurt during the Pelicans loss at Golden State on Tuesday night . Murray, the Pelicans' top offseason acquisition, broke his hand late in New Orleans' regular season-opening victory over Chicago . Murray had 14 points, 10 assists and eight rebounds in the lone game he's played for New Orleans.
He had surgery last week and is expected to miss an additional three to five weeks Meanwhile, New Orleans began the season without wing Trey Murphy III, who is recovering from a right hamstring strain th.