Kendrick Perkins Has Strained MCL, Will Miss Rest of West Coast Trip

Posted by Brian Robb on Feb 23, 2011 1680030 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F02%2F23%2Fkendrick-perkins-has-strained-mcl-will-miss-rest-of-west-coast-trip%2FKendrick+Perkins+Has+Strained+MCL%2C+Will+Miss+Rest+of+West+Coast+Trip2011-02-23+22%3A39%3A00Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D16800

Paging Troy Murphy. The C’s roster is holding by on a thread as Kendrick Perkins has been diagnosed with a sprained MCL and will miss the rest of the Celtics’ west coast swing according to Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.COM

A source told CSNNE.com Perkins suffered a strained MCL. He’s listed as day-to-day, but is expected to miss Thursday’s game in Denver, Saturday’s game in Los Angeles against the Clippers, and Monday’s game in Utah.

The good news about this injury, suffered in the second quarter of last night’s win by Perk is that it’s the left knee, not the surgically repaired right knee. The bad news of course is this can be a serious injury, if it’s severe enough sprain.

With Perk’s listing as day-to-day he likely is on the lower scale in that severity department, but NBA players have missed 4-6 weeks with this injury in the past. (C’s director of player personnel Tyronn Lue being one of them)

With both Shaq and J.O. out for the foreseeable future, this injury will likely force Danny Ainge to pull Semih Erden off the table in most trade talks, out of necessity more than anything else. Right now, the frontcourt without Perk is KG, Big Baby, Semih and Luke Harangody. That’s a tough crew to get through a west coast trip with, and makes the need for a buyout like Troy Murphy become more of a priority, even though Boston can only offer him the veteran’s minimum to sign for the rest of the year. They will be able to offer the chance at consistent playing time, which should be appealing to Murphy.

As for the rest of the C’s assets dealing, it’s going to boil down to finding a taker for Nate Robinson and a draft pick or ponying up Avery Bradley (highly unlikely) in order to make a deal. The far more likely scenario right now is for the C’s to wait for to the last minute for a deal, or wait for the buyout market (Rasual Butler, Jamario Moon, etc.) at the three to settle. We’ll have you fully posted here at CelticsHub with the latest developments.

For now, here’s hoping Perk can bounce back from yet another setback.