The Portland Trail Blazers announced some not-so-great news about CJ McCollum on Monday night. While he was first diagnosed with a sprain, he actually has a hairline fracture in his left foot and will miss at least a month.
McCollum left Saturday’s game against the Atlanta Hawks with a foot injury that was called a sprain after initial X-rays and an MRI.
He was originally going to be re-evaluated in a week, but additional imaging apparently revealed the fracture.
This is a big loss for the Blazers. McCollum has been one of their leading scorers and was on pace to likely make his first All-Star team this season. Through 13 games he’s put up career highs in points per game (26.7), assists per game (five), and 3-point shooting (44.1 percent). He’s a major contributor, and his absence was felt immediately: the Blazers lost 125-104 to the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.
McCollum will be re-evaluated in four weeks, but there’s no guarantee he’ll be ready to come back by then.
The fracture is in the same foot McCollum has broken two other times in his career, so the Blazers may want to be extra cautious with their star.
