Phoenix Suns Big Man Alan Williams Suffers Partially Torn Meniscus
Phoenix Suns center Alan Williams will likely have to miss some time next season after he went down with a knee injury in practice last week.
According to ESPN's Chris Haynes and Marc Spears, Williams sustained the injury when he landed on teammate Marquese Chriss' foot. An initial evaluation has revealed that he has suffered a partially torn meniscus and he was scheduled to undergo a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan last Saturday to determine the extent of the damage to his knee.
Williams is expected to miss an undisclosed amount of time due to the injury. It should be noted that rookie guard Davon Reed is expected to miss four to six months after he underwent surgery to repair a meniscus tear in his left knee, so Williams will likely be out for several months as well.
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"We are still evaluating the extent of the injury and will have more info about it at media day on Monday," Suns general manager Ryan McDonough told the media last Friday, via the Arizona Republic.
Williams is coming off a breakout season with the Suns and he's supposed to compete for playing time at center with Alex Len this year. With him out of the lineup, Len should get most of the minutes behind starting center Tyson Chandler. The fifth-year pro has recently signed a one-year, $4.2 million qualifying offer to stay with the Suns this season.
Second-year big man Dragan Bender will likely see some minutes at the position as well.
"Bender, who's scheme versatile enough to play at the four or five, could flip to center while a forward with shooting prowess like Dudley or Alec Peters at power forward. Remember, Bender has been working out with the team all summer outside of his EuroBasket tourney play with Croatia compared to Len who hasn't been able to since July 1," Evan Sidery said in his column for Bright Side of the Sun.
