Pelicans' Dejounte Murray suffers lower right leg injury and team braces for long absence

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — New Orleans guard Dejounte Murray left the Pelicans’ game against Boston in the first quarter Friday night with an injury to his lower right leg, and the team was bracing to be without him for an extended period once again.

Pelicans coach Willie Green said he saw Murray briefly after the game, which New Orleans lost 118-116. Murray suffered a non-contact injury and was grabbing in the area of his right Achilles tendon before hobbling to the bench.

“It's a challenge. It's a challenge,” Green said. “I'll leave it at that.”

Green did not provide a diagnosis of the injury, only saying that Murray — who missed 17 games earlier this season with a broken hand — would get some imaging. “We'll have an update after that,” Green said.

While not disclosing what Murray said, Jose Alvarado said his injured teammate spoke to the group at halftime.

“He’s one of the toughest soldiers I know,” Alvarado said. “He’s so tough mentally — at least what he shows to us. He held his head high. He was waiting for us at halftime. He told us the news, and I think I shed a tear. He’s just so solid. He going to be our leader. I told him, ‘I send my prayers up to you.’”

Murray had driven into the lane and took a shot, then went to chase after his miss. But he fell to the court and grabbed at the area near his right foot. When he got up, he hobbled toward the nearby Pelicans bench.

“It hurt a lot, l can’t lie to you,” said Trey Murphy III, who scored 40 points in the loss. “He’s been through a lot already, and it doesn’t help. But a lot of times God puts you through situations in order to give you a bigger message. I think that’s what’s happening right now. It’s not always easy to understand what he’s saying, but there always a reason.”

Shortly after the injury, the Pelicans announced Murray would not return to the game.

“Extremely difficult, when you see a guy that means so much to our team and puts the work in go down like that,” Green said. “We’ll continue to pray for him and see what happens once he gets the imaging.”

The injury-riddled Pelicans were already playing without Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram and Herb Jones.

"Those are the challenges that we’ve been going through pretty much all season," Green said.

The Pelicans (12-37) are next-to-last in the Western Conference and well out of the playoff picture. Losing Murray again would only add to a frustrating season that went horribly wrong for New Orleans.

“We'll make sure we continue to support him,” Green said. “We'll wait for the results, but whatever the case we'll make sure we're there to support him.”

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