Hands
Bench Warmer
The Golden State Warriors won't have Baron Davis or Monta Ellis in their starting lineup on opening night.
In perhaps the biggest setback of a difficult summer for the Warriors, team officials confirmed Wednesday that Ellis -- just awarded one of the biggest pay raises in league history -- will be sidelined at least three months after suffering a severe high ankle sprain in his hometown of Jackson, Miss.
Ellis, 22, underwent successful surgery Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala., to repair a torn deltoid ligament in his left ankle, which the team announced after an ESPN.com report earlier Wednesday.
In an afternoon conference call with local reporters, Warriors executive vice president of basketball operations Chris Mullin said that Ellis informed the club that he injured himself last Thursday playing pick-up ball in his native Mississippi.
It was about a month ago that Ellis received a six-year, $66 million contract extension from the Warriors. Ellis' ankle will now be immobilized for six weeks, followed by at least six weeks of off-court rehab before the 6-foot-3 guard can return to basketball workouts, ruling Ellis out for all of training camp and the preseason and at least the first month of the regular season.
"Right now, we feel like we're going to let Marcus [Williams] handle the point," Mullin said. "There will be a lot more discussion moving forward about that, but we feel like we'll come up with a lot of different scenarios between [coach Don Nelson] and I. The one thing we won't do is panic and do something just knee-jerk."
Ellis was unavailable for comment Wednesday, and his agent, Jeff Fried, could not immediately be reached.
The new contract calls for Ellis to earn a flat $11 million in each of the next six seasons after he made just $770,610 last season to complete a modest three-year deal he received as a second-round pick in 2005.
In perhaps the biggest setback of a difficult summer for the Warriors, team officials confirmed Wednesday that Ellis -- just awarded one of the biggest pay raises in league history -- will be sidelined at least three months after suffering a severe high ankle sprain in his hometown of Jackson, Miss.
Ellis, 22, underwent successful surgery Wednesday in Birmingham, Ala., to repair a torn deltoid ligament in his left ankle, which the team announced after an ESPN.com report earlier Wednesday.
In an afternoon conference call with local reporters, Warriors executive vice president of basketball operations Chris Mullin said that Ellis informed the club that he injured himself last Thursday playing pick-up ball in his native Mississippi.
It was about a month ago that Ellis received a six-year, $66 million contract extension from the Warriors. Ellis' ankle will now be immobilized for six weeks, followed by at least six weeks of off-court rehab before the 6-foot-3 guard can return to basketball workouts, ruling Ellis out for all of training camp and the preseason and at least the first month of the regular season.
"Right now, we feel like we're going to let Marcus [Williams] handle the point," Mullin said. "There will be a lot more discussion moving forward about that, but we feel like we'll come up with a lot of different scenarios between [coach Don Nelson] and I. The one thing we won't do is panic and do something just knee-jerk."
Ellis was unavailable for comment Wednesday, and his agent, Jeff Fried, could not immediately be reached.
The new contract calls for Ellis to earn a flat $11 million in each of the next six seasons after he made just $770,610 last season to complete a modest three-year deal he received as a second-round pick in 2005.
