Washington Wizards center Gheorghe Muresan will be out at least six weeks after his injured right ankle was placed in an immobile cast.
The 7-foot-7-inch, 303-pounder strained a tendon in his right ankle during the summer and hasn’t played this season. His condition will be re-evaluated after the cast is removed.
“Gheorghe has steadily improved, but not at the rate we had hoped for,” Wizards General Manager Wes Unseld said.
He’s averaged 10.6 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.6 blocked shots in 276 career NBA games with Washington since 1993.
Ballot box opens: Voting for the Feb. 8 NBA All-Star game begins Friday in NBA arenas and on the Web.
McDonald’s, in its second year as sponsor of NBA All-Star balloting, will also distribute 30 million ballots at 12,000 of its U.S. restaurants beginning Dec. 26.
A total of 100 players, 20 guards, 20 forwards and 10 centers from each conference, are on the ballot. Voters select two guards, two forwards and one center for each conference.
The starters will be announced Jan. 25. The coaches in each conference will then determine the seven reserves.
Ellis returns: LaPhonso Ellis, who missed Denver’s first five games while recovering from a ruptured Achilles’ tendon, scored nine points in 21 minutes Wednesday night as the Nuggets fell to 0-6 with a 96-86 loss at Boston.
Sprewell update: Latrell Sprewell, who was benched for the final 20 minutes of Golden State’s 35-point loss to the Los Angeles Lakers Sunday, did not start Wednesday night against Detroit. Sprewell apparently annoyed coach P.J. Carlesimo when he clowned on the bench during the loss at Los Angeles. Sprewell had 14 points in the Warriors’ 102-71 loss to the Pistons.
WNBA doings: Former Long Beach State star Cindy Brown signed with the WNBA. Brown was the sixth member of the 1988 Olympic champion U.S. team to sign with the league.
