The New Orleans Pelicans’ injury-filled season took yet another hit Monday night.
Trey Murphy, who was having the best season of his NBA career, is out for the year after being diagnosed with a torn labrum and partial tear of the rotator cuff in his right shoulder.
An MRI confirmed the injury late Tuesday night, the team announced.
Murphy’s injury occurred in the first minute of Monday's 127-81 home loss to the Detroit Pistons. Murphy was attempting to get to a loose ball on the play. He went to the locker room with 11:11 remaining in the first quarter, but didn’t return.
Murphy, in his fourth NBA season, was averaging a career-high in points (21.6), rebounds (5.2) and assists (3.6). Last week, he moved into ninth place on the franchise’s all-time scoring list, surpassing former teammate Jonas Valanciunas.
It’s the latest injury for the Pelicans, who dropped to 18-51 after Monday’s loss. The 46-point loss tied the record for worst regular season loss in franchise history.
“To start the game with Trey going down, it kinda just rocked us from there,” said Pelicans' coach Wille Green. “We kinda felt sorry for ourselves a bit. You can’t do that. But it shook our guys up, especially with all we’ve been through this season.”
And the Pelicans have been through a lot. It's the third season-ending injury for the Pelicans.
Two starters from the season-opener, Dejounte Murray and Herb Jones, also suffered season-ending injuries this season.
Murray suffered a torn Achilles against the Boston Celtics in late January. A week later, Jones suffered a torn labrum in a loss to the Portland Trail Blazers. Zion Williamson played his 29th game Monday.
Murphy played in 53 games this season,
He missed the first 10 games of the season dealing with a hamstring injury suffered during the team’s training camp in Nashville in early October. He missed two more games dealing with that injury in November. Later in November, , he missed one game with a left knee contusion. In January, he missed three games with a left ankle sprain. This latest injury will sideline him for the remaining 13 games.
The Pelicans have used 36 different starting lineups this season.