Utah Jazz forward Marvin Williams has elected to have surgery to repair his sore right heel/Achilles tendon after several consultations, the team announced on Friday.
The estimated recovery time is six months, which would put Williams back in Utah’s lineup sometime after the beginning of December, at the earliest.
Williams posted numbers a season ago that may lead you to believe that this wouldn’t necessarily be a loss that would be too difficult to overcome, however there are plenty of questions surrounding the roster of the Jazz, and how it may look by the time we’re ready for next season.
Al Jefferson and Paul Millsap, the team’s two best players, are both unrestricted free agents this summer. Williams has a player option for around $7.5 million that he’s almost certain to exercise, but even with that the Jazz have not much more than $25 million currently committed in salary for next season.
If Jefferson and Millsap were to both join other teams, Williams would have been the one to benefit in terms of an expanded role with the team next season.
The Jazz often fly under the media radar, but with the uncertain status of their big name free agents and the amount of cap space they possess, they’re poised to have one of the more interesting offseasons in the league this summer.
Williams appeared in 73 games for the Jazz last season, and averaged 7.2 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 23.7 minutes per game.