SAN DIEGO -- Los Angeles Lakers guard Nick Young underwent surgery Monday to repair the torn radial collateral ligament in his right thumb and is expected to miss about eight weeks.
Young suffered the injury while guarding Kobe Bryant during practice this past Thursday and had an MRI exam Friday that revealed the tear. The surgery was performed by Dr. Steven Shin of the Kerlan-Jobe Orthapaedic Clinic.
"It hurts us, as far as that's a guy that we know that can come off the bench and provide instant offense for us," Lakers coach Byron Scott said Monday before the Lakers' preseason opener against the Denver Nuggets in San Diego. "Obviously, we're going to have to look elsewhere for that ... It hurts us.
"I really looked at our roster and thought we had 10 to 12 guys that I thought were really good at what we could do. We were going to have a really balanced rotation, but sometimes you have to make adjustments."
Young, who averaged a career-high 17.9 points and 1.5 assists per game for the Lakers the past season, signed a four-year, $21.5 million extension with the team in July.
