New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray injured his lower right leg during the first quarter of Friday night\u2019s game against Boston. The team is now preparing for his extended absence.<\/p>\n
Pelicans head coach Willie Green briefly spoke to Murray after the game, which ended in a 118-116 loss. Murray sustained a non-contact injury and was seen holding his right Achilles tendon while limping to the bench.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a challenge. It\u2019s a challenge,\u201d Green said. \u201cI\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Green did not provide a specific diagnosis but noted that Murray, who had previously missed 17 games this season with a broken hand, would undergo imaging. \u201cWe\u2019ll have an update after that,\u201d Green added.<\/p>\n
Although Green didn\u2019t reveal the specifics of their conversation, Jose Alvarado shared that Murray spoke to the team at halftime.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s one of the toughest soldiers I know,\u201d Alvarado said. \u201cHe\u2019s so mentally tough \u2014 at least that\u2019s what he shows us. He kept his head up, and at halftime, he told us the news. I think I shed a tear. He\u2019s just solid. He\u2019ll be our leader. I told him, \u2018I\u2019m sending my prayers for you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Murray had driven to the basket, missed his shot, and then attempted to recover the rebound, only to fall and clutch the area around his right foot. He limped to the bench afterward.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt hurt a lot, I can\u2019t lie to you,\u201d said Trey Murphy III, who scored 40 points in the loss. \u201cHe\u2019s already been through a lot, and this doesn\u2019t help. But sometimes, God puts you through these situations for a bigger reason. I think that\u2019s what\u2019s happening now. It\u2019s not always easy to understand, but there\u2019s always a reason.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the injury, the Pelicans quickly announced Murray would not return to the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s extremely difficult when you see someone who means so much to our team and works so hard go down like that,\u201d Green said. \u201cWe\u2019ll continue to pray for him and wait for the imaging results.\u201d<\/p>\n
The injury-riddled Pelicans were already without Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, and Herb Jones.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are the challenges we\u2019ve been facing all season,\u201d Green said.<\/p>\n
With a 12-37 record, the Pelicans are near the bottom of the Western Conference and far from playoff contention. Losing Murray again would further add to the frustration of a disappointing season.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ll continue to support him,\u201d Green said. \u201cWe\u2019ll wait for the results, but whatever happens,we\u2019ll be there for him.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Orleans Pelicans guard Dejounte Murray injured his lower right leg during the first quarter of Friday night\u2019s game against Boston. The team is now preparing for his extended absence. Pelicans head coach Willie Green briefly spoke to Murray after the game, which ended in a 118-116 loss. Murray sustained a non-contact injury and was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[246],"tags":[2595],"class_list":["post-23139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","tag-mudejounterray"],"yoast_head":"\n