Louisville Basketball: JJ Traynor Out For Season After Re-injuring Shoulder
By Caleb Hall
![Louisville Cardinals forward JJ Traynor (12) encourages his team mates from the sidelines in the Louisville Cardinals forward JJ Traynor (12) encourages his team mates from the sidelines in the](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4522,h_2543,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/238/01hkfsdhe40cyr0qxyk2.jpg)
After announcing last week that Dennis Evans would be out for the rest of the season, Louisville was going to be low on big men for the rest of the season. JJ Traynor was looking like he would step up in a big role after being labeled "day to day", but as of yesterday Traynor re-injured his shoulder and will be labeled out for the rest of the season.
Really bad news pic.twitter.com/Z0NutREPzx
— Mark Blankenbaker (@UofLSheriff50) January 6, 2024
Traynor was a local 4-star top 100 recruit out of Bardstown, Kentucky, and looked to have some good upside as a combo forward when he came to Louisville in the 2020 class. This season is Traynor's senior season and it is extremely unfortunate that it will end with him being on the sideline for most of it.
Traynor was playing his best basketball in his career before he got injured, as he was averaging 10.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, and shooting 51.6% from the field. Traynor always was a guy who played with high energy and often was labeled as an x-factor when it came to his effect during games.
Traynor will be another big loss for Louisville and head coach Kenny Payne. For a team that needs to catch some breaks, they keep on having bad news find them. Hopefully, some other players can step up in Traynor's absence, but losing Traynor is down way to start 2024 for Louisville.