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Shabazz Muhammad’s shoulder injury not serious, but a big deal

Kyle Anderson Shabazz Muhammad

Yesterday, twitter was abuzz when news leaked that the nation’s No. 1 recruit, Shabazz Muhammad, had injured his shoulder at UCLA’s practice.

How bad was it?

Now we know: not a huge issue. According to CBSSports.com, Muhammad will be out for 2-to-4 weeks, but they aren’t quite sure.

“It will probably be a few weeks,” UCLA head coach Ben Howland told Jon Rothstein. “We don’t know just how long yet but probably a few weeks.”

The injury may end up being more trouble for Muhammad than it would be for any other player, however. As you should be well aware, Muhammad is currently dealing with amateurism issues and has not been cleared by the NCAA yet. The way this works is that Muhammad gets 45 days from the start of practice -- which was October 12th -- as, more or less, a grace period. He can practice with the team for those 45 days, but if there still hasn’t been a ruling in that time, he’ll have to sit out.

Those 45 days are up about a month from today. If Muhammad’s injury last four weeks, that means he won’t get anymore practice time in before he has to sit out. And if he has to sit out a long time, well, let’s just say not practicing means he won’t be learning the system he’s playing in and won’t be learning how to play with his teammates. And keep in mind, he also battled a sprained ankle of the summer and didn’t practice with the team before their trip to China.

He’s way behind.

Which doesn’t bode well for when -- if? -- he ever gets cleared.

Rob Dauster is the editor of the college basketball website Ballin’ is a Habit. You can find him on twitter @robdauster.