Brandon Rush sidelined for rest of the season with ACL injury – NBA News
The Golden State Warriors received the worst news a team could receive at the start of the season when they were informed by team doctors that Brandon Rush had torn his ACL in his left knee and would be requiring surgery, meaning that he would be out for the rest of the season. Rush suffered the injury when the Warriors played the Memphis Grizzlies, and was helped back to the locker room. An MRI conducted later confirmed that the injury was infact an ACL tear. Normal recovery time from ACL injuries varies between 8 to 12 months.
"He's not doing great. He's devastated as you can imagine. It's a traumatic thing to go through for anybody. We're going to figure it out and work with the Warriors and come up with a great plan to get him back. But for the moment, it's devastating with surgery and rehab ahead of you,” said Rush’s agent, Mark Bartelstein.
The Warriors will rely on Richard Jefferson and second round draft pick Draymond Green to fill in for Rush, and can also sign a player using their disabled player exception. However, it would be difficult to find a suitable replacement for Rush, who was the clearly the best player on the Warriors bench. He averaged 9.8 points and 3.9 rebounds in 26 minutes of action per game last season. He shot 50 percent from the field and 45.2 percent from three point range, 6th best in the league last season. The Warriors gave him a two year contract worth $8 million back in July, with a player option for 2013-2014.
"It's a tough time. It's a blow for us, no question about it, because we lose our best perimeter defender. Some teams you probably don't have to address when something like this happens, but this is an extremely close-knit group, and you could tell they were affected,” said Warriors Head Coach Mark Jackson ahead of the Los Angeles Clippers game.
The Warriors were the most successful team in the Western Conference in the preseason, and are looking to keep that momentum going by qualifying for the playoffs this season. The loss of Rush will be a big blow to the team’s plans for the season.
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