The Washington Wizards could be without promising forward Bilal Coulibaly for the rest of the regular season.
Coulibaly suffered a hamstring injury during the first quarter of the Wizards' Monday contest against the Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena. The 20-year-old rose up for a dunk and landed awkwardly after getting undercut by a Raptors defender. He checked out of the ballgame and did not return.
The Wizards announced on Thursday that Coulibaly would be out for four-to-six weeks due to the injury. While that's encouraging news in terms of the injury's long-term severity, it does most likely keep Bilal out for the rest of the season.
Scary fall for Bilal Coulibaly.
Luckily he got up and walked it off. Appears to be okay. pic.twitter.com/8CALYvLSQ0
— Greg Finberg (@GregFinberg) March 11, 2025
Washington's last game of the season is an April 13 matchup against the Miami Heat, right around the four-week mark. But it would not make much sense to rush Coulibaly back for a few meaningless games down the stretch, which likely means his 2024-25 campaign is likely over.
The Frenchman made some significant strides in his second NBA season. In 59 games played, he averaged 12.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, 3.4 assists, and 1.3 steals per contest -- all career highs for Coulibaly.
Bilal did take a bit of a step back in terms of efficiency, shooting just 42.1% from the field and 28.1% from the three-point line. But that's not at all surprising for a second-year player taking on a bigger role in an NBA offense.
With the Wizards tanking for better lottery odds this season, losing one of their best young players for a month isn't the biggest blow in terms of the win-loss column. But B-Cool still could have used that extra month of development for a chance to close his second season out strong.
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This story was originally published March 13, 2025 at 7:53 PM.