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Bucks lose PG Marshall to ACL tear
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
Milwaukee Bucks point guard Kendall Marshall will miss the remainder of the season with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.
Marshall injured the knee during the second quarter of the Bucks’ win over the New York Knicks on Thursday in London.
“He’s been great for us,” Bucks coach Jason Kidd said. “It’s disappointing. It’s an unfortunate accident for a player who was playing well for us.”
Marshall had an MRI on the knee Saturday morning that confirmed the diagnosis. Surgery is planned in two to three weeks once the swelling goes down.
I didn’t know what it was, but I knew it was something serious,” Marshall said. “I could feel it buckle, pop and it was a pain that I’d never felt before.
“I hate to see injuries in sports, period. Our bodies are how we make our money; they’re our job, they’re our profession. At the end of the day, though, injuries are a part of our profession as well. That’s part of the risk, so you have to be understanding of that and understanding of the process and be ready to get back.”
Marshall is the second Bucks player to suffer an ACL injury this season. Rookie forward Jabari Parker tore the ACL in his left knee on Dec. 15.
“It’s next guy up,” Kidd said. “We’ll play the 11 that we have and we’ll go from there; we’ll figure it out. There are some guys who will have to play some more minutes, which they’re probably excited about.
“We’ve got one guy averaging over 30 minutes (Brandon Knight), so somebody is going to have to pick up some more minutes for us. Kendall brought a lot to the table for us, being able to anchor that second group, keep the ball moving and post up, too.”
The 6-foot-4 Marshall was averaging 4.2 points and 3.1 assists in 28 games.
With Marshall out and point guard Nate Wolters waived earlier this month when the Bucks signed Kenyon Martin, Jerryd Bayless is now the backup at the position.
“We don’t plan to stop having a good season,” Marshall said. “We’ve been through a lot of adversity this year with (forward) Ersan (Ilyasova) getting hurt early. With we’ve had Jabari go down, Johnny O’Bryant went down and we’ve been dealing with (center) Larry (Sanders).
“We’ve had a lot of stuff to deal with, so this is another small bump in the road that we have to find a way to get through and hopefully come out better.”
The Bucks will be without Sanders for 10 games after his suspension Friday for violating the league’s anti-drug program.
“It’s unfortunate,” Kidd said. “As a coach and his teammates, we’re here to support him no matter what. We want to see him get through this and become a better person and a better teammate.
“We’ll have a conversation at some point. I don’t know if it’s going to be before or after (the suspension), but we’ll have a conversation.”
