Portland Trail Blazers center Jusuf Nurkic underwent surgery on Tuesday and is expected to make a full recovery from a season-ending injury to his left leg, the team announced in a release.
There is no timetable for his return to basketball activity.
Nurkic, 24, fractured his left tibia and fibula with 2 minutes and 22 seconds remaining in the second overtime of the Blazer’s win over the Brooklyn Nets Monday night, after he jumped for a rebound and came down awkwardly under the basket.
“It made me sick to my stomach,” Blazers guard Damian Lillard said of the injury after the game Monday night. “I think he tried to tip it in, he crashed the glass and I saw him hit the ground and roll over real quick, and I thought maybe he got hit in the face or something again. As I was walking over there, I saw everybody else turn around real quick and walk away, and then I looked and saw his leg — and you just hate to see that happen to him.”
It’s a crushing blow to the Blazers, who have been surging recently despite a knee injury to CJ McCollum that has sidelined him the past couple of weeks.
Nurkic averaged 15.6 point, 10.4 rebounds and 3.2 steals — all career highs — in 72 games this season.
Behind Nurkic, the Blazers have Kanter, who was signed after being waived by the New York Knicks, and Zach Collins.