Andre Drummond was limited to just five minutes in last night's 93-90 loss to the Brooklyn Nets after aggravating his back injury while taking a charge from Andray Blatche. After the game, he clarified to reporters the exact nature of his injury, saying it was his the left side of his tailbone that hurts. Here's video of his comments, courtesy of Dave Pemberton of the Oakland Press:
This is the second straight game that Drummond attempted to play until to leave with pain. After Monday's game, he blamed the lingering injury on hotel beds, but now it sounds a bit more serious. Lawrence Frank on why Drummond even got into Wednesday's game, via David Mayo:
"We thought he was good enough to go, he thought he was good enough to go, and then once you've seen him on the court, you see him labor out there," Pistons coach Lawrence Frank said.
As disconcerting as it is for fans seeing him sidelined, the young big man still doesn't yet seem overly concerned, even sounding confident that he'll still participate in the Rising Stars Challenge during All-Star weekend. We'll see about that; I wouldn't be surprised if the training staff recommends he sits that out, let alone accept a possible invite to the Slam Dunk Contest. (So much for #LetDreDunk.)
Stay tuned.