Golden State Warriors guard Monta Ellis was immobilized and carted off the court after he was injured in a collision during training-camp practice Friday night.
According to ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher, the 21-year-old Ellis was trying to split a double team on a pick-and-roll when he went down. Ellis lay face down, prone for more than 25 minutes.
He has been taken to Castle Medical Center in Kailua, which is about 40 minutes from the BYU-Hawaii campus where the Warriors are holding camp.
The team's trainer was able to speak to Ellis, so it appears he is conscious, but there were no noticeable responses to tests for motion, particularly from the shoulders down.
Ellis was strapped onto a board to get him on a stretcher to be taken off the court, according to Bucher.
Brandan Wright, who apparently set the pick on the play, said Ellis banged his head on Wright's hip before turning and falling to the ground, reported The Contra Costa Times on its Web site.
In April, Ellis won the Most Improved Player award for his transformation from an unsung Mississippi high schooler to a speedy scoring threat for the improving Warriors.
Ellis edged Sacramento's Kevin Martin by three points in the closest voting in the award's history, earning 47 first-place votes and 352 points from a media panel. Martin, the Kings' high-scoring guard, got 44 first-place votes and 349 points.
Ellis averaged 16.5 points, 4.1 assists and 3.2 rebounds this season with new coach Don Nelson and the revitalized Warriors, who returned to the playoffs after a 12-year absence.
The second-round pick's improvement on his 6.8-point scoring average in his rookie season was the NBA's largest increase this year, and he caught the nation's attention with a dunk-filled 28-point performance in the Rookie Challenge during All-Star weekend.
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