76ers' Covington suffers elbow contusion in loss to Pacers

To the extent that they actually care about winning basketball games, the Philadelphia 76ers took a serious hit on Sunday when small forward Robert Covington landed hard on his right elbow after a contested third-quarter layup attempt against the Indiana Pacers.

Covington stayed on the floor for several minutes before being helped to the locker room. He was later diagnosed with an elbow contusion and ruled out for the remainder of the game.

He managed to pick up a team-high 12 points in 24 minutes before being forced to leave. Without him, the Sixers scored just 10 fourth-quarter points en route to a 20-point loss.

With Tony Wroten out for the season and Michael Carter-Williams now plying his trade in Milwaukee, Covington is officially the Sixers' leading scorer at 13.2 points per game. He also leads the team in 3-point attempts, with 6.8 per contest, and he's nailing an impressive 38.3 percent of them. The Sixers are 9.5 points per 100 possessions better with him on the floor. 

Signed out of the D-League early this season, Covington has been a bright spot in another forgettable season in Philadelphia, and last month was rewarded for his strong play with a ticket to All-Star Weekend for the Rising Stars Challenge.