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Results of an MRI performed yesterday on Golden State Warriors center Kwame Brown revealed a torn pectoralis major (the large chest muscle that attaches to his right shoulder), which will require him to undergo surgery within the next few days, the team announced today. The surgery, which has not yet been scheduled, is expected to keep him out for a minimum of three months.
“Obviously, we’re very disappointed, especially for Kwame, who was playing extremely well and had worked diligently since his arrival,” said Larry Riley, the team’s Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations/General Manager. “In a short time, he had proven to be the anchor to our low post defense and certainly lived up to his reputation as one of the top interior defenders in the NBA. He had provided us a big, physical presence in the middle, which is something that we’ve lacked in the past. Unfortunately, surgery of this nature typically requires, approximately, a three-month recovery period.”
The injury occurred at the 6:22 mark of the fourth quarter during the Warriors’ game against the Miami Heat on Tuesday, January 10.
Brown, 29, appeared in all nine of Golden State’s games this season, averaging 6.3 points and 6.3 rebounds in 20.8 minutes per game. He started each of the team’s last three games, averaging 9.7 points and 6.3 rebounds in those contests. He was originally signed by the Warriors as a free agent on December 14, 2011.
“I feel extremely bad for Kwame,” said Head Coach Mark Jackson. “He had done absolutely everything that myself and our coaching staff had asked of him and quickly started to change this team’s image on the defensive end of the floor. If you look at the last week, in particular, he had some pretty impressive defensive performances, especially against some of the top scoring big men in the NBA. This is a blow, but Kwame and the Warriors will recover and move forward. I know that he will work as hard as he can during rehabilitation.”
