Milwaukee Bucks Director of Player Personnel Dave Babcock announced today (Friday) that rookie forward Yi Jianlian (pictured) will miss the teams final 8 games of the season after suffering a sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee during the Bucks win over Washington on Wednesday.
Yi underwent an MRI on Thursday and was diagnosed with the knee sprain, an injury that will require 2 to 3 weeks to rest and rehabilitate.
In 66 games this season (49 starts), Yi averaged 8.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in 25.0 minutes. Among rookies who qualify, he ranked T-7th in scoring, 5th in rebounds, 2nd in free throw percentage (.841), 5th in blocked shots (0.85) and 7th in minutes played.
Yi was the NBA's Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month for December.