As reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the San Antonio Spurs received tough news on Tuesday with regards to starting point guard Dejounte Murray.
Spurs: DeJounte Murray has a torn ACL.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) October 8, 2018
Murray injured his right knee during the second quarter of Monday's preseason game against the Houston Rockets. Entering his third season, Murray was a strong candidate to have a breakout season for the Spurs after taking over the starting job from Tony Parker midway through last season. Just 22 years old, Murray is already one of the best defensive guards in the NBA and was coming off a season in which he became the youngest player in NBA history to be named All-Defence.
The injury to Murray adds to a long list of changes in San Antonio's backcourt. Along with Manu Ginobili's retirement and Tony Parker's move to the Charlotte Hornets, rookie Lonnie Walker IV - the 18th overall pick in June's draft - is expected to miss 6-8 weeks with a torn meniscus.
All of this adds up to an even bigger role for Patty Mills who averaged a career-high 25.7 minutes per game last season. Mills provides much-needed stability to a San Antonio backcourt suddenly in flux as he played all 82 games last season and has missed just three games over the last three season. Mills started 36 games last season, averaging 10.9 points and 3.4 assists per game in those games.
Throw in the departures of Kawhi Leonard and Danny Green who were traded to the Toronto Raptors in the offseason and Mills is suddenly the longest-tenured player on the roster.
The Spurs have made the playoffs in 21 straight seasons entering this year, tied for the longest streak of its kind in NBA history.
