Pacers center James Wiseman underwent successful surgery on Thursday night to repair his torn left Achilles tendon, as Shams Charania of ESPN first reported (via Twitter). While Achilles tears are typically season-ending injuries, Indiana is still determining Wiseman’s recovery timeline, according to Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star, and head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters on Friday that Wiseman hasn’t been ruled out for the season yet.
“This was terrible luck,” Carlisle said in discussing the injury. “Great kid who had an amazing summer of preparation, really good preseason. Training camp was also really good. It’s just one of those things. Just a very odd circumstance. Very unlucky.”
The Pacers’ other backup center, Isaiah Jackson, missed Wednesday’s regular season opener due to a right groin strain, but he has been cleared to suit up for Friday’s game in New York, Dopirak writes in a separate story for The Indy Star. Still, with Wiseman seemingly unlikely to play again this season, Carlisle didn’t rule out the possibility of adding another center to the roster.
“I would think that our people are getting a few phone calls today from agents and stuff like that,” Carlisle said. “I’ve not been focusing on that. The good news for us is Isaiah Jackson will be back and available. That’s very good news. We will just right now focus on the guys we have on the roster that are ready to go and come out with guns blazing. That’s what you gotta do in this situation.”
The Pacers have an open 15-man roster spot, and while they don’t have a ton of breathing room below the luxury tax line, they could add a free agent big man on a non-guaranteed minimum-salary contract and stay out of tax territory while maintaining the flexibility to waive that player before the league-wide salary guarantee date.
Here are a few more injury notes from around the NBA:
- Lonzo Ball‘s limit of 16 minutes per game is going to remain in place “for some time,” Bulls head coach Billy Donovan said on Wednesday, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. But the veteran point guard came away from his regular season debut on Wednesday feeling fine and will play in Saturday’s home opener vs. Oklahoma City after sitting out the first end of Chicago’s back-to-back in Milwaukee on Friday, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network (Twitter links). Wednesday represented Ball’s first regular season action since January 2022 due to multiple knee surgeries.
- Grizzlies big man Jaren Jackson Jr. won’t play on Friday vs. Houston, having been ruled out due to his left hamstring strain (Twitter link). The team was said to be targeting this weekend for Jackson’s return, so we’ll see if he’s able to make his season debut on Saturday at home vs. Orlando.
- After describing Steven Adams‘ availability as “game-to-game” as he returns from knee surgery that cost him the entire 2023/24 season, Rockets head coach Ime Udoka said forward Tari Eason is in a similar boat, tweets Kelly Iko of The Athletic. Eason, who missed most of last season due to leg surgery, was active on Wednesday and isn’t on the injury report for Friday’s game vs. Memphis, but may not suit up for the second end of Houston’s back-to-back set on Saturday in San Antonio (Twitter link via Jonathan Feigen of The Houston Chronicle).
- Josh Green (left Achilles soreness) and Tidjane Salaun (left finger sprain) have been upgraded to available for the Hornets‘ game in Atlanta on Friday. Neither player has made his Hornets regular season debut, but both could see action tonight.