Orlando Magic Center Nikola Vučević Out for Six to Eight Weeks With a Fractured Index Finger
The Orlando Magic are running out of healthy starters.
The team has announced that Nikola Vučević has fractured the second metacarpal (index finger) in his left hand in the first quarter of Saturday's 130–103 loss to the Washington Wizards. He will have to undergo surgery to repair the damage on his finger and he's expected to be sidelined for six to eight weeks.
The injury bug has hit the Magic hard this season.
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Before Vučević went down with the injury, the Magic already had to make do without starters Aaron Gordon (calf strain) and Evan Fournier (sprained right ankle). Terrence Ross is also out indefinitely due to a sprained medial collateral ligament (MCL) and a nondisplaced tibial fracture in his right knee.
Elfrid Payton is the only projected starter who is healthy right now and he also had to sit out some games early this season due to a hamstring injury.
As of the moment, the Magic will just have to rely on their second stringers.
"It's a next-man-up mentality and that's all we can do now," Vučević said, via NBA.com.
"When one man goes down it's an opportunity for the next guy to step up. It's not an easy situation, especially when you have so many guys who are your core players go down. It's not easy having different guys step up into different roles and doing things they aren't used to doing. But we can't feel sorry for ourselves. Nobody is going to feel sorry for us, so it's next man up and try to do what we can," he continued.
Jonathon Simmons and Mario Hezonja have stepped up their game in the past few weeks, and now it's Bismack Biyombo's turn to move into the starting lineup.
Marreese Speights is expected to act as Biyombo's backup at center while Vučević is on the shelf.
