Utah’s Enes Kanter has been dealing with a dislocated left shoulder. As anyone who has had a dislocated shoulder can tell you, after you dislocate it once it is more susceptible to happening again. And again. And… you get the idea.
So Kanter will be out the rest of the season as he will have surgery to repair that shoulder, reports the Salt Lake Tribune.
“Frankly, this is good news,” (Jazz GM Dennis) Lindsey said. “The probability as given to us that something would happen to the shoulder is no greater than a shoulder that’s never been injured before.”
He said the likelihood of further injury was reduced by “surgical reattachment rather than straight rehab.”
Kanter, the No. 3 pick in the 2011 draft, has averaged 7.2 points and 4.3 rebounds in 15.4 minutes per game this season. His loss will be felt, but not that much as Derrick Favors has played very well lately.
This summer the Jazz will lose at least one of their two big men free agents, Al Jefferson or Paul Millsap. They will survive that just fine, however, because they have young and improving players in Favors and Kanter. So they need to think about the big picture, not just beating the Lakers out for the eight seed.
Kanter is out for any playoff series the Jazz are in but will be back next season for training camp.