LOS ANGELES -- New Orleans Pelicans center Omer Asik has a bacterial infection that he may have contracted while in Mexico over All-Star break, according to coach Alvin Gentry.
Asik has missed the Pelicans' past six games and lost a significant amount of weight as a result of the illness, Gentry said.
While Gentry said Asik is "struggling," he also said the Pelicans center is getting better and doesn't consider the infection a long-term concern.
"We're just trying to get him healthy, really," Gentry said. "That's the main thing."
A consistent starter his first two seasons in New Orleans, Asik has appeared in just 31 of the Pelicans' 62 games this season, including 19 starts.
Asik, 30, has played just 14 total minutes in three appearances since the start of the calendar year.
He still has two years and $21.9 million, as well as a nonguaranteed third year, left on the five-year deal he signed with the Pelicans in the 2015 offseason.
