Former Alabama point guard suffers season-ending ACL injury

Former Alabama star and New Orleans Pelicans point guard Kira Lewis Jr suffered an ACL tear and grade two MCL sprain in his right knee during the second quarter of Wednesday night’s 120-114 loss against the Denver Nuggets. The Athletic’s Shams Charania also reports that the injury will be season-ending.

Kira Lewis Jr averaged 5.9 points, 1.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists over the first 24 games before suffering the ACL tear on Wednesday night. The 20-year old guard plays a reserve role for the struggling Pelicans in his second season and has improved in field goal percentage, despite a lower 3-point percentage than his rookie year.

After two seasons at Alabama – including one under current head coach Nate Oats – Lewis entered the 2020 NBA Draft and went No. 13 overall to the Pelicans. Fellow Alabama legend Herbert Jones joined Lewis on this season’s roster with former teammate John Petty Jr on the G-League affiliate Birmingham Squadron.

Nate Oats on Alabama recruiting

Nick Saban’s value as the head coach of Alabama’s football program is clear. He has won six national championships with the Crimson Tide, and seven total in his head coaching career. Saban’s success not only directly benefits Alabama on the football field, but it has lasting impacts in other sports as well, according to basketball coach Nate Oats.

“He’s been really good with recruiting with us,” Oats said on The Paul Finebaum Show. “He goes out of his way to make sure he has time when we have kids on official visits. But you walk in and he’s got an aura about him. He’s won seven national championships. You’re going to listen to what he has to say. Even if you’re not (into football), he’s arguably the best team sport coach in modern history.”

While Saban doesn’t directly aid Oats on the recruiting trail, his willingness to simply talk to these recruits is something that no other school can offer. Saban is able to represent the University as a whole in trying to help recruits understand what Alabama has to offer.

“Shoot, he’s won everywhere he’s been at,” Oats said of Saban at Alabama. “He won a championship at LSU, he’s won six here. So kids will always ask him different stuff. But he’s always talking about what it takes to be successful, how do you add value to yourself as a player, what the university has to add value to them, what they have to do for themselves to add value.

“It’s almost motivational. I get myself motivated to be a better coach sometimes when I’m sitting in there listening to him talk to recruits. They all take it well. He does a really good job with it.”