Monta Ellis Out Three to Four Months With Torn Ankle Ligament

This is not the way that Monta Ellis wanted to show the Warriors he is worth his new six-year, $66 million contract.

ESPN.com's Marc Stein was the first to report that the Warriors' new point guard has suffered a torn ankle ligament while training in his hometown of Jackson, Miss. Sources have told Stein that surgery is needed to repair a torn deltoid ligament, and the ankle will be immobilized for the first six weeks of recovery.

After receiving one of the biggest raises in NBA history, Ellis was supposed to be the center of the Warriors offense and as the team attempts to get back into the playoffs.

However, now the talented guard will be heading towards the operating room, and is facing a recovery time of up to four months. According to Stein, Ellis will have surgery in Alabama today after he told the team he injured the ankle working out last week.

It is uncertain where the Warriors will go now to find a short-term replacement for Ellis. Marcus Williams, who was acquired from the New Jersey Nets this summer, could be the logical choice to take over for Ellis while he is out of action.

"Right now, we feel like we're going to let Marcus [Williams] handle the point," Warriors VP of basketball operations Chris Mullin said. "There will be a lot more discussion moving forward about that, but we feel like we'll come up with a lot of different scenarios between [coach Don Nelson] and I. The one thing we won't do is panic and do something just knee-jerk."

There are also reports that the Warriors are interested in free agent point guard Shaun Livingston, who is coming off a serious knee injury. The Warriors interest, according to Mullin, was initiated before Ellis was injured.

It has been a eventful off-season in Oakland. Star point guard Baron Davis went south to join the Clippers. The Warriors then signed Corey Maggette, formerly of the Clippers, to get some type of payback.

But the most important moves of the summer were when the Warriors re-signed restricted free agents Ellis and Andris Biedrins to big-money contracts.