By Stavros Barbaroussis / info@eurohoops.net
The worst is over for Nikola Milutinov, who went down with a knee injury two minutes in CSKA Moscow‘s EuroLeague opener against AX Armani Exchange Milan on Thursday night.
Even though coach Dimitris Itoudis said it “didn’t look good” during the post-game press conference, according to Eurohoops sources, the Serbian big man was spared from the worst scenarios of a cruciate rupture or a serious knee injury and will not need to undergo surgery.
However, according to the initial estimates, Milutinov will be sidelined for three to four weeks and the timeline of his return depends on the course of his recovery. His recovery process will begin immediately with physiotherapy and more medical scans.
With Milutinov sidelined, coach Itoudis will have to rely on Johannes Voigtmann, Joel Bolomboy, Vladimir Ivlev, and Tornike Shengelia for his frontcourt plans.
UPDATE: CSKA further informed that Milutinov suffered partial damage to the internal lateral ligament of the left knee.