Via Matt Moore at CBSSports.com:
Anthony Davis suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left hand Sunday night vs. the Knicks, the Pelicans announced. The Pelicans power forward had been having an All-Star-worthy season, averaging 20 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks per game for New Orleans.
He suffered the injury in the first quarter vs. the New York Knicks. After going to the locker room, X-rays confirmed the fracture and he returned to the bench with a heavy cast on his hand.
“Non-displaced” is a bit of a silver lining, but hand injuries are serious and he could still miss some significant time.
Obviously that’ll be a blow for the Pelicans, as Davis had improved on his very good rookie season this year and is quickly developing into the franchise anchor center New Orleans envisioned him as.
With backup center Greg Stiemsma also sidelined, the Pelicans may need to make a move to shore up the frontcourt. They have rookie Jeff Withey, but he’s a project and certainly no replacement for Davis.
Without getting into too much speculation, this could have ramifications on the Omer Asik market, though it still seems unlikely an Asik-for-Ryan Anderson deal will happen, or that Houston will deal their disgruntled center to a division rival at all. Still, there’s one more potential contender in the market for help at center, so you never know.