We know the Sixers’ history, they are going to be cautious when their young stars suffers an injury.
Which is why we will not see any more Jahlil Okafor this season. Here is GM Sam Hinkie, from the official press release Friday:
“Jahlil recently started to experience discomfort in his right knee, which we immediately investigated. As a comprehensive series of tests and additional evaluations by our medical team, it was revealed he has a small tear of the meniscus. Jahlil will undergo a minor arthroscopic procedure to address the injury. Timing and details of the procedure will be finalized in the coming days.
“Our medical team will continually monitor and evaluate Jahlil’s progress, and we anticipate he will resume full basketball activities in about six weeks.”
That is after the season and means his summer workout program.
Hopefully this is not serious, as the Sixers made it sound. With a meniscus tear the options are removal or trim and repair, the latter is better for the player long-term and it sounds like what the Sixers are looking at considering the recovery time and his youth (removals, as was done with Dwyane Wade years ago, are rare now).
After being drafted No. 3, Okafor had an impressive rookie season — 17.3 points per game on 50.3 percent shooting, with a PER of 17.4 — which is what most expected. He was the most NBA-ready of the top draft picks last June, but not the one with the highest ceiling.
Still he has looked like someone who can be a central piece of what the Sixers are slowly building in Philly. He and Nerlens Noel are going to be good NBA players, even if they can’t play next to each other on the front line.
