Charlotte Hornets center Nick Richards will be sidelined indefinitely due to a broken rib.
Richards went down early after injuring his right shoulder during the Hornets’ 124-109 loss to the Boston Celtics on Friday night. An MRI on Tuesday subsequently revealed a fracture in his first rib below his right collarbone.
Richards will be evaluated “every other week,” starting in two weeks. It is unclear how long he will be out.
Richards is averaging a career-high 11 points and 10 rebounds per game this season, his fifth with the Hornets. He is in the second year of a three-year, $15 million deal with the franchise this fall. Richards will start this season in place of Mark Williams, who is yet to appear on court as he recovers from a foot injury.
“Nick has played a big role in what we have done in the first five games. I’m really happy with him and his ability to kind of dominate the paint,” coach Charles Lee said Saturday. “He’s changed a lot of shots and I think he helps us with his pick-and-roll coverage and understanding the different gaps in the midfield and creating some indecisiveness with ballhandlers.
“He’s done a great job defensively, and offensively he’s created a lot of advantages for all our scorers, all our ball handlers. He’s one of our key guys and one of those relentless offensive rebounders. It helped him and it also led to kick-out threes for us. It is an unfortunate loss.”
The Hornets have a 2-5 record this season and have lost three straight, including back-to-back losses to the Celtics. The Hornets went just 21-61 last season and missed the playoffs for the eighth straight year. Lee was hired this past season to replace Steve Clifford as the team’s head coach.
The Hornets host the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday night.
