Sixers' Wilson Chandler Out 2-3 Weeks With Right Quad Strain

Updated: 3:18 p.m.

It seems like Wilson Chandler has been snakebitten this season.

The veteran combo forward will miss the next two to three weeks with a right quad strain that was revealed by an MRI taken Friday. He is likely to return after the All-Star break (Feb. 17).

Chandler has already missed 16 of the team's 52 games this season with injuries to his left hamstring and right quad and an upper-respiratory infection. The 32-year-old also hasn't quite looked like himself in the games he has played.

With Chandler out, Brett Brown is in a tough spot. Two choices to replace Chandler in the starting lineup are rookies Landry Shamet and Jonah Bolden. There are issues with doing that with either player.

First of all, both players have given the bench a boost. They were huge in the Sixers' win over the Warriors the other night. Both young guys seem to have settled into their roles and you might not want to disturb their rhythm.

If you start Shamet, you're losing something on defense - though he's much improved on that end of the floor. With Bolden you're losing something on offense - though Bolden has hit an unsustainable 56 percent from three over his last seven games.

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It's possible that Brown could opt to use T.J. McConnell in the starting lineup and use Ben Simmons more at the four. Brown could also use Mike Muscala, who's done better at the four than the five and does stretch the floor next to Joel Embiid.

Then there's Corey Brewer. Brewer started three games while Jimmy Butler was out. With that said, even with Chandler leaving Thursday's game early, Brewer played just 9:48 vs. Golden State. But what's made Brewer so valuable is how quickly he was able to go from playing superheroes with his kids to guarding James Harden. Inserting him as a starter would keep the rest of the rotation as is.

For Saturday night against the Kings (10 p.m./NBCSP), Muscala will start in place of Chandler and Shamet gets the nod for JJ Redick (rest).

Two-way player Shake Milton, who just joined the team in Sacramento, is another player to keep an eye on. He has intriguing tools and was impressive in the Sixers' loss to the Nuggets last Saturday. It's to a point where Milton is - and should be - above Furkan Korkmaz on the depth chart. 

Milton's two-way status limits him to 45 days with his NBA team. While the exact number of NBA service days isn't known, it seems pretty unlikely that Milton will reach that limit. Once the Blue Coats' season ends in late March, he's free to join the Sixers for the rest of their season.

The good thing for Brown and the Sixers, is that they have options. They could have even more with the trade deadline and buyout market looming.

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