SAN ANTONIO -- San Antonio Spurs coach Gregg Popovich announced Wednesday that starting point guard Tony Parker will miss the club's matchup against the Indiana Pacers at the AT&T Center.
"He's out for tonight," Popovich said.
Parker suffered a quadriceps contusion in the second quarter of the team's win on Sunday over the Los Angeles Lakers. In the immediate aftermath of that 119-98 Spurs victory, Parker anticipated he'd miss some time, as he expected the injured area to swell.
"Yeah, I got kneed," Parker said. "So that will be a big one. It'll be a big one. It'll be a little baseball tomorrow. So we'll see. We've got a couple of days before the next game. But if it's still hurting, I'm not gonna take any risks being with Pop. We'll see. We'll go day by day. But my 16 years of experience tells me it's going to be a big one."
Parker was proved correct, and Popovich said he'll start rookie first-round pick Dejounte Murray in Parker's place.
Although Parker has started in each of his 45 appearances this season, he has missed time with knee soreness, a left quadriceps contusion, and a left knee contusion, in addition to sitting out four games due to pain in his left foot.
Murray, meanwhile, has appeared in 33 games with six starts, shooting 43.4 percent from the floor and .421 from long range. Murray scored a season-high 24 points on Jan. 19 against the Denver Nuggets, but he's been held out of 11 games by Popovich.
Murray made his NBA debut on Oct. 28 against the New Orleans Pelicans.
