Denver Nuggets Wilson Chandler to miss 2015-16 season with hip injury

Denver Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler will miss the entire 2015-16 NBA season due to a torn labrum in his right hip, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports.

Chandler has been diagnosed with a labral tear, league sources said. He suffered the injury during the preseason.

Chandler’s expected to make a complete recovery from the surgery after a six month rehab process, a league source said.

Chandler experience this same injury in his opposite hip (left hip) in 2012 and had to undergo a grueling rehab process just to be able to walk again. From Aaron Lopez in 2012:

Thirty days after hip surgery, Wilson Chandler was finally able to stand on his own two feet.

The simple act of walking without crutches was a liberating milestone in a painstaking recovery for the Denver Nuggets forward.

“Feels like starting over,” he said. “Like a baby.”

This comes on the heels of Chandler extending his contract with the Nuggets and he enjoyed a great offseason and training camp. Chandler was in tremendous shape and his body was feeling well, according to talks I had with him before training camp. Nuggets head coach Michael Malone expected Chandler to play a big role with the team this season, he was talking about playing him over 30 minutes a night and could have used him in a variety of ways in crunch time lineups.

The move Denver made to waive Erick Green for Kostas Papanikolaou now totally adds up as the Nuggets will need depth behind starter Danilo Gallinari.

Official statement from the Nuggets on the team website:

“Since his arrival in Denver in 2011, Wilson has embraced everything that has been asked of him and more,” said Nuggets President and Governor Josh Kroenke. “No one has worked harder, and to see him miss our entire season is devastating as I know how badly he wants to be on the court helping his teammates. Knowing the person behind the player and the character he has displayed during previous periods of adversity, Wilson will embrace this challenge and come back as a healthy and improved player next season. We look forward to assisting him every step of the way in his recovery.”

“While we are extremely disappointed by the news, we are confident that Wilson will be at full strength to start next season. Wilson is one of the league’s elite workers and we are going to be there for him during this entire process,” Connelly stated.

“I’m incredibly disappointed at this point, I put in so much work over the summer to make myself a better player,” said Chandler. “I was really looking forward to this year, being out there battling with my teammates, being a part of the change. I dedicated my whole summer to self-improvement and all I had on my mind this off-season and preseason was ‘this was my year, I was going to help this team win.’ So this is very frustrating and heart-breaking to say the least. I just want to say thank you to the whole organization for supporting me at a time like this.”