Jayda Evans of the Seattle Times reports: He was drained like a rock musician at the end of a concert full of crowd dives, screams and passionate play.
The KeyArena crowd cheered Sonics guard Desmond Mason's 16 points Sunday, which helped their team defeat the Milwaukee Bucks 97-83, but with the win finalized and the adoring fans gone, Mason showed his pain. He gingerly walked down the locker room hall, almost unable to walk out of the arena to go home.
Watching the normally spirited guard move, Sonics Coach Nate McMillan realized the first-quarter collision Mason had with Bucks forward Anthony Mason (no relation) was serious.
A nasty bruise on Desmond Mason's right knee yesterday proved it was.
Mason, 24, did not practice yesterday and will not travel with the team for its games against Minnesota tonight or Detroit tomorrow because of a sprained right knee.
"He will be out at least a couple of weeks," said McMillan, who hasn't decided whether to place the team's fifth-leading scorer on the injured list. "That's obviously a big loss for us. We'll leave him home for this trip and evaluate him when we return."
In addition to the road trip, Mason will likely miss Friday's game against Miami at KeyArena and Saturday's road game against Portland, featuring former teammate Ruben Patterson. But McMillan said Mason, like guard Gary Payton, has a tougher mentality and is more likely to return quickly.
"The guy is tough as nails to take a hit like that and come back and play," McMillan said. "He was key for us winning that game."