Pistons' Steve Blake suffers concussion

It took less than a week for the Detroit Pistons to suffer their first serious injury of the season.

Veteran point guard Steve Blake has been diagnosed with a concussion, the team announced Friday. Blake hit his head on the court on Wednesday and sat out practice sessions Thursday and Friday to see if symptoms would subside.

The 35-year-old will now be subject to the NBA's return-to-play protocol for concussions, making a timeline difficult to predict. Blake will now be held out of activity until he's symptom-free at rest and a neurological exam matches his baseline score. The protocol requires increasing levels of exertion, with the player needing to remain symptom-free to move on to the next stage, before team doctors discuss a potential return with Dr. Jeffrey Kutcher, the Director of the NBA's Concussion Program.

Acquired from the Brooklyn Nets in mid-July, Blake stands to see significant playing time until Brandon Jennings returns from an Achilles injury. Blake and Spencer Dinwiddie are presumed to be battling for interim backup point guard duties, and Blake's absence may be an opportunity for Dinwiddie to show more than he did as a rookie last season and run with the job.

In 81 games last season, Blake averaged 4.3 points and 3.6 assists in 18.9 minutes, knocking down 35.2 percent of his 3-point attempts. He's a 38.5-percent marksman from outside over his 12-year career, spent mostly as a quality backup, and that shooting touch would make him an option in two-point guard lineups if head coach Stan Van Gundy opts to deploy them.