Washington Wizards center Yi Jianlian suffered an injury to his right knee during the team's loss to the Chicago Bulls tonight.
The injury occurred when Wizards star point guard John Wall fell on Yi's knee. Wall came up favoring his left foot and left the game briefly before returning to the bench. Yi's injury appeared to be much worse. He was helped off the court by Hamady Ndiaye and Kevin Seraphin and headed straight to the locker room. Yi left the floor with 5:51 remaining in the third quarter and he did not return to the game.
According to Michael Lee of the Washington Post, the early diagnosis was a bone bruise.
Yi had five points and two rebounds in 13:00 of floor time prior to the injury. The 7'-0" center has been averaging 8.0 points and 3.3 rebounds this season. The injury came just three days after he scored 13 points against the Houston Rockets on Wednesday night.
The promising Chinese center has the potential to make a big impact on the Wizards this season. Hopefully the knee injury is just a minor setback for him.