While the full extent of the shoulder injury suffered by Al Horford in the Atlanta Hawks 96-84 loss to the Indiana Pacers hasn't been revealed, Royce Young at CBS Sports.com is speculating that it's serious enough to cost him a significant chunk of the season:
Al Horford went down with a shoulder injury that could cost him a month or more. And he's just the latest in a long line of players getting dinged up. Blame it on the condensed schedule with no camp or just coincidence, but it has seemed like the injury bug has been biting quite a bit this season.
Not only has a compressed season seemingly increased the injury rate in the NBA, but the number of games being squeezed into the calendar means that injuries are costlier than they were in years before.
Horford, a fifth-year player out of Florida, has been remarkably healthy in his time with the Hawks, playing in at least 77 games in three of his first four years in the NBA.
A two-time All-Star, he is averaging 12.4 points and 7.0 rebounds on 55.3% shooting this season.