Pelicans guard CJ McCollum has suffered a collapsed right lung following a medical evaluation on Sunday evening the team announced.
This marks the 2nd time throughout McCollum’s career that he’s suffered a pneumothorax, after dealing with one back in Portland during the 2021 season. That year, the 6’3” sharpshooter missed 18 games before eventually being traded to New Orleans.
Across 6 games in 2023-24, McCollum has averaged 21.7pts/5.7ast/4.8reb/1.5stl per game for the Pelicans. An official timetable for his return to NBA action has yet to be determined.
The club is currently dealing with injuries to guards Jose Alvarado (right ankle sprain) and Trey Murphy III (torn meniscus), leaving the Pels suddenly thin at the guard position. Second year guard Dyson Daniels, and rookie Jordan Hawkins are likely to see an uptick in their usage with McCollum sidelined in the short term, but a more permanent solution may be required should the 2016 Most Improved player miss an extended period of time.
McCollum will undergo further testing this week to determine the extent of the injury. For now he is simply listed as “out indefinitely” for the time being.
New Orleans is next in action against the reigning NBA Champion Denver Nuggets on Monday at 9pm ET.
Photo: Erik Drost. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.