The Cairns Taipans will be without Keanu Pinder for a further two games following his absence from the side's three-point win over Adelaide on Saturday.

The 27-year-old, whose Indigenous mother is from the Kimberley region of WA, missed out on the Taipans' New Year's Eve nailbiter with a lateral ligament strain to his left ankle, sustained against Melbourne United on December 23.

Taipans' coach Adam Forde had questioned the level of defensive attention received by Pinder from Melbourne players.

"It's one thing to send a double team, it's another thing to have guards sliding in at all different angles to try and draw, whether it's a charge, a block, or a no call, regardless of what the officials call it, the result is Keanu is picking himself up off the floor," Forde said as reported by NBL.com.

"That's jeopardising his ankles, that's jeopardising his health.

"I'm asking for protection for Keanu out there because they [United] make no secret about him being targeted, they make no secret about him being a key focus of their defence, but the reality is he's so dynamic, he's so athletic and so gifted that they don't have anybody necessarily capable of defending him one on one.

Forde went on to say the conduct threatens to derail their season.

Melbourne later issued a statement rejecting the claims.

"Every team's best player is subject to extra defensive attention, however for an opposition coach to suggest intent to injure by our players is disrespectful and plain incorrect," the club said.

The Taipans currently sit third on the NBL ladder, two games behind leaders the Sydney Kings, with nine games remaining across the final home-and-away rounds.

Pinder has been instrumental through their campaign, touted as a potential MVP for 2022-23 averaging 17.8 points and 9.9 rebounds across the season though has since taken to wearing a moonboot.

"They want to talk about MVP contentions, but he is still being spoken to and treated like a scrub out there. If the message is nobody is going to protect him, you need to think about what he is going to do for his future," Forde said

"His career is potentially going to take off, financially rewarding for him.

"There's a level of how much does he want to jeopardise that knowing that some of the tactics that are being employed by how teams defend him could rule him out for the rest of the year."

Pinder will remain off the court for their upcoming road games against the bottom placed Hawks and Bullets.

Cairns face Illawarra in Wollongong on Monday night before travelling north to face Brisbane on Thursday.