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After initial concerns that Nene had a torn ligament in his knee, the news of the diagnosis is a little less serious. The good news? No torn ligament. The bad news: Nene's still going to be out for a while.
Via the dean of NBA reporting:
After initial fears of a season-ending knee injury, Washington center Nene has suffered only a sprained left MCL, league source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 24, 2014
Nene is expected to be lost to the Wizards for four-to-six weeks, league source tells Yahoo.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 24, 2014
The Wizards later announced that Nene will miss "approximately six weeks." Michael Lee reported the same.
Got confirmation from 2 sources that Nene has sprained left MCL & will be out 6 weeks. Could return for last week of regular season #wizards
— Michael Lee (@MrMichaelLee) February 24, 2014
This means Nene is likely to miss almost all of the rest of the regular season. At best, he'd be back by early- to mid-April and will play in the postseason should the Wizards get there.
We're not out of the woods by any means here. The Wizards are 7-34 without Nene since trading for him in 2012, and they are just five games up on ninth-place Detroit for a playoff spot. Even if they make it, avoiding the No. 7 or No. 8 seed will be a challenge.
Time to step up, Kevin Seraphin, Trevor Booker and Al Harrington.