Wizards' Bilal Coulibaly Suffers New Injury

Coulibaly's Prior Injuries

The forward, out of France, missed the start of the season while he was recovering from surgery over the summer. This surgery was on his wrist and was performed during the FIBA EuroBasket. It was not a major surgery, but it was needed and required a few weeks of rest. Coulibaly then made his season debut against the Oklahoma City Thunder on October 30th, posting 16 points on 50 percent shooting.

Then, in the matchup against the Houston Rockets on November 12th, Coulibaly returned to the injury report with soreness in his left calf. He returned the following game thanks to a three-day rest period. Now, he hits the injury report again, and there is no telling when he will return to the lineup.

Potential Timeline

The Wizards said they will treat this injury conservatively. This is similar to what the team is doing with Johnson, who also has a strain. The time frame for recovery from an oblique strain varies. If it is a mild strain, it should take two to three weeks. A moderate strain takes four to six weeks to fully heal. Then the worst-case scenario is a severe strain that takes six to eight weeks to recover from. So, at the minimum, Coulibaly will miss the next 7 to 10 games. In the worst possible scenario, Coulibaly would miss all of December and January.

There is an old saying that the best ability is availability. So far, Coulibaly has missed 54 career games, and that number is about to go up. Coulibaly has also missed 28 of the last 40 games for the Wizards. It can be drawn up to bad luck, or it could be that he is injury-prone. There is no telling, and it is still too early in his career to figure that out.

Coulibaly was having a decent season before this second injury in the year. The forward was averaging 8.8 points per game on 7.6 shots. Offense is not his strong suit , but defense is. So far, Coulibaly is averaging a block and 1.3 steals a night. His defense was highlighted in the win against the Milwaukee Bucks, as he got the game-winning stop against Giannis Antetokounmpo, who recently requested a trade.

If Coulibaly wants a nice extension, he has to prove he can stay healthy. Getting injured every other week is not a sign of a long and successful career. The Wizards have faith in him, though, and it will be interesting to see how he does coming back from this strain.