According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Damian Jones of the Golden State Warriors suffered a torn left pectoral muscle in Golden State's Saturday night matchup with the Detroit Pistons.
It's unclear exactly how long Jones will be sidelined with this injury. Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reports that Jones will undergo surgery and meet with a specialist in Chicago. At that point, Jones and the team will be able to determine whether or not Jones can make a return this season. If he does return this year, Wojnarowski notes that it will probably be late in the playoffs.
This is a tough blow for a young player who was finally getting his chance to play. This is Jones' third year with the Warriors and in his first two seasons, he only appeared in 25 games.
The 23-year-old center out of Vanderbilt is finally getting an opportunity to step in as a major contributor this season. He's started in 22 of Golden State's 24 games. Damian Jones is still finding his way in the NBA and he's trying to figure out exactly where he fits in on the championship roster.
In about 17 minutes per night, Jones is averaging 5.4 points, 3.1 rebounds, and 1.o blocks per game. These are paltry numbers on paper, but the Warriors don't need Jones to stuff the stat sheet to be successful. Golden State needs Jones to become a lockdown defender an opportunistic scorer.
This puts some added pressure on All-Star DeMarcus Cousins to make his return sooner rather than later as the Warriors' frontcourt is thinner without Jones.
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