Celtics rookie Jared Sullinger will miss the rest of the season with a back injury, league sources tell Y! Sports. He will need surgery.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 1, 2013
After months of mocking the red flags that caused Jared Sullinger to drop to the Celtics in the NBA draft, it appears fears over Jared Sullinger’s back were legitimate.
Sullinger, who pulled up lame after four minutes of play against the Kings, was originally diagnosed with back spasms. Since then, Doc Rivers and Danny Ainge had said they knew Sullinger’s back would occasionally be an issue, but they didn’t seem to make a big deal of this particular injury.
Let’s flash back to the days after the draft. Here’s what Danny Ainge had to say about Sully’s back:
“There are some issues there,” said Ainge. “Our medical staff thinks that short-term and long-term there may be some maintenance issues with the back. Doc Rivers played with a herniated disk for 13 years. It may need surgery at some point, it may not.”
We can now remove the “it may not” from that quote.
I don’t know if this issue is directly related to what caused the red flags in the first place, nor do I know what the actual injury is. We’ll update you as more news develops.
Meanwhile, Brandon Bass will likely return to the starting line up with Chris Wilcox getting more minutes off the bench. What the Celtics will do to replace Sullinger is up in the air.
Slowly… the season starts to slip away….
UPDATE: Sullinger already had his surgery.
Celtics announce Sullinger underwent successful “lumbar disc surgery” today. He’s expected to be ready for training camp.
— Greg Payne (@GregPayne_ESPN) February 1, 2013
//platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsGet well soon, Sully.
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