Shoulder injury to sideline Pistons' Kennard at least two weeks

Auburn Hills — The Pistons will be without second-year guard Luke Kennard for a while.

The team announced Friday that Kennard had an MRI, which showed that he suffered an AC joint sprain in his right (non-shooting) shoulder.

“Kennard will begin the rehabilitation process immediately and will be re-evaluated again in two weeks,” the team said in a statement.

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A two-week recovery time would keep Kennard out of seven games for the Pistons, who face the Celtics on Saturday at home and travel to Boston for a matchup on Tuesday. ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Kennard could miss 3-4 weeks. 

Kennard sustained the injury late in Thursday night’s victory over the Cleveland Cavaliers at Little Caesars Arena after running into a screen set by Cavs big man Channing Frye in the second quarter. 

“It’s unfortunate and it’s a part of the NBA. I thought he came in and gave us what we needed, gave us a little scoring punch in a tough stretch where we were kind of playing in mud,” coach Dwane Casey said. “He gave us a spark and it’s unbearable to lose him.”

Before the injury, Kennard was having his best game of the season, with eight points on 4-of-4 shooting in 13 minutes. He had a slow start to the season after missing almost two months because of a knee sprain, which kept him out of the Summer League.

Rod.Beard@detroitnews.com

Twitter: @detnewsRodBeard