The Utah Jazz expected losses this year. Few, however, could hurt as much as this one.
Shooting guard Alec Burks will miss the remainder of the season after opting to have surgery on his injured left shoulder, the team announced Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Burks aggravated his shoulder — a source of concern for the guard even before the Jazz drafted him in 2011. The 23-year-old sought medical opinions from multiple doctors and, according to sources, was told he would likely need surgery at some point.
Ultimately, Burks and the Jazz opted to try physical therapy to rehab the injured shoulder, putting off a potential surgery until a later date.
That time has now come.
"We didn't know the timeline," Jazz general manager Dennis Lindsey said Tuesday. "As we got more information with more games and practices and treatments and continued consultation," the decision was made to undergo surgery.
The procedure will be performed by team physician Travis Maak on Wednesday at the University of Utah.
"We're very confident that he'll come back 100 percent given the history of this type of injury," Lindsey said.
Burks is expected to be ready for the team's training camp next fall, if not sooner.
The Jazz signed Burks to a four-year contract extension last fall. The team was aware of his shoulder injury long before that.
"We knew he had a condition with his shoulder and literally [trainer Gary Briggs and strength and conditioning coach Mark McKown] three days after the draft put him on a real strong pre-hab program," Lindsey said earlier this year. "There's a range of motion component, a strength component, a flexibility component. It's probably a great reason why he hasn't had many episodes up until this year."
Coach Quin Snyder and his players were saddened upon hearing the news. They will be without a player averaging better than 13 points and 4 rebounds a game.
"He's disappointed," Snyder said. "He's one of those guys that really loves to play. … There's an understanding that we're losing a big piece of what we do. The system itself, hopefully, absorbs some of that. We have to have other guys step up and try to fill that void productivity wise. But it's not easy. At the same time, I think it's absolutely the best thing for him to try to get healthy."
The Jazz roster sits at 15, the maximum allowed by the NBA, after adding shooting guard Patrick Christopher earlier this month.
But with some relative bargains and partially guaranteed deals at the end of the bench, Lindsey and the Jazz do have some flexibility to make moves.
"That's constantly being evaluated by Dennis and our group," Snyder said. "So it's probably premature to make solid statements about any of that. We like the group we have. … If it makes sense to add more pieces to the puzzle, we'll do that. But right now, we've got the guys we've got in the locker room."
afalk@sltrib.com
Twitter: @tribjazz
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