Jae Crowder, who has been one of the few pleasant surprises for the Bucks to start the season and their best 3-point shooter, will miss the next couple of months following abdominal surgery, the team announced.
Crowder suffered the injury Saturday night against the Magic and the team sent him to a specialist. From the official Bucks release:
“He underwent testing and further evaluation today by Dr. Bob Meyers in Philadelphia and was diagnosed with a left adductor and abdominal tear. Crowder is scheduled to undergo surgery tomorrow and will be sidelined for approximately eight weeks.”
This timeline has him back around mid-January. Here was what Bucks’ coach Adrian Griffin said about the news, via Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
“Tough news for Jae but unfortunately it’s kind of part of sports. We’ll miss his veteran presence in the locker room and on the court. His leadership, voice. I think he’ll still be able to lead us out there through his rehab.”
Crowder has had a strong start to the season, averaging 8.1 points a game and shooting 51.6% from 3 on 3.4 attempts a night, plus adding 3.9 rebounds and 1.7 assists. Look for MarJon Beauchamp and Andre Jackson Jr. to get the bulk of Crowder’s minutes, to athletic players and quality defenders but not players that defenses fear from beyond the arc the same way.
The Bucks are off to a 5-4 start this season but with a -3.6 net rating, they have not looked like the contenders everyone expected once Damian Lillard was added to the mix. The combination of new players and a new coach has been part of the issue, there are some roster fit issues, but injuries have played a significant role as well.
Crowder missing the next two months just adds to that.
