Nuggets F Nene to have thumb surgery, miss six weeks

Nov 9, 2007 - 12:52 AM BOSTON (Ticker) -- Denver Nuggets forward Nene will have surgery on a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his left thumb on Friday and will miss up to six weeks, the team announced on Thursday.

Nene suffered the injury during Wednesday night's embarrassing 119-93 loss to the Boston Celtics. Preliminary X-rays were negative but Thursday's MRI exam revealed a more serious problem.

It has been an injury-plagued career for the 6-11 Brazilian, who tore the ACL in his right knee in the first game of the 2005-06 season.

After sitting out the rest of that campaign, Nene battled nagging injuries but returned to average 12.2 points and 7.0 rebounds in 64 games last season. He has averaged 11.0 points and 6.4 rebounds in six seasons with the Nuggets.