The New Orleans Pelicans and their fans received a scare when rookie E.J. Liddell was forced to exit their NBA Summer League game against the Atlanta Hawks with a right knee injury on Monday. Unfortunately, the injury was as bad as it looked. On Tuesday, the team announced that Liddell had suffered a torn ACL and will be out indefinitely, per the Pelicans Twitter account.
Injury Update: E.J. Liddell will be out indefinitely after suffering a torn ACL in his right knee.
An MRI done last night confirmed the injury, which occurred during the third quarter of yesterday’s Summer League game against the Atlanta Hawks. pic.twitter.com/fSU4Cxqj8v
— New Orleans Pelicans (@PelicansNBA) July 12, 2022
Just brutal. E.J. Liddell went for MRIs after exiting Monday's Summer League game, which came back revealing the ACL injury. A day for surgery has not yet been revealed. It occurred in the third quarter of the game against the Hawks, when Liddell, attempting to gain position under the basket, saw his right leg buckle.
The Pelicans rookie needed to be helped off the court, as he was unable to put any weight on his leg. Now, he was robbed of his chance to show other teams what they were missing out on.
Liddell, a projected first round pick, fell to the second round, where the Pelicans gladly selected him.
The Ohio State product is just the latest Pelicans rookie to go down to a Summer League injury, as fellow first-year player Dyson Daniels sustained an ankle injury on Saturday, with the team ruling him out for the remainder of the Summer League.
Fortunately, Daniels' injury isn't believed to be serious. It's just brutal that E.J. Liddell, who was playing in just hie second NBA Summer League game, will have to wait to make his official debut.