National Basketball Association

Detroit Pistons could be without Reggie Jackson for longer than they expected

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Detroit Pistons knew Reggie Jackson would be out for six to eight weeks, but that timetable could be longer, with Jackson choosing to go with plasma enrichment, which has the longest timetable for recovery.

The offseason couldn’t have been more positive for the Detroit Pistons–though signing Al Horford could have made it that much sweeter.

Unfortunately, as we near the end of the offseason, the Pistons have been hit with some hard news on Reggie Jackson, who is suffering from a bout of knee tendinitis.

It looked like Jackson would be out for 6-8 weeks, but it could be even longer based on the method Jackson has chosen for his recovery.

Via Detroit News:

Auburn Hills — The Pistons knew that they’d be without starting point guard Reggie Jackson for a while, because of left knee tendinitis.

The only question was exactly how long.

They have an idea where they stand now with Jackson deciding on his treatment course.

Coach Stan Van Gundy announced Saturday that Jackson will have a platelet-rich plasma injection on Monday to help ease the issues from the tendinitis, which worsened just before the team began voluntary workouts last month.

It’s unclear how long Jackson will be sidelined, but Van Gundy estimated that it could be 6-8 weeks.

“He will get the PRP injection in New York on Monday,” Van Gundy said. “I haven’t gotten the timetable but it’s a significant amount of time. He’ll be on crutches for three to seven days.

“He won’t be here Monday night (for the exhibition home opener) because he’ll do the thing in New York and almost certainly won’t be on the trip with us next week, and then we’ll go from there.”

Jackson previously had a PRP treatment when he played with the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2011. It has the longest recovery time of all the options, but has the highest probability of relieving the pain for an extended period.

“Our hope was that it was more normal tendinitis stuff and we could work it out but it didn’t appear to be — and on top of that, he had the bone bruise,” Van Gundy said. “He had a pretty significant setback compared to some of these other guys (Marcus Morris, Ish Smith).

“It’s pretty typical stuff and that’s what we hoped with Reggie, but it’s not the way it turned out.”

Let’s hit on the bad news first–this is likely something the Pistons will have to monitor with Jackson for the remainder of his time with the team. This is also something that could potentially last longer than eight weeks.

The good news–as the quote above illustrated–is that the method Jackson has chosen has the best method for long-term pain relief.

For a team that hoped to take a big step forward this season, this is definitely a significant blow–particularly since the offense revolves so much around Jackson’s athleticism.

Now the Pistons have weigh how they want to proceed moving forward. Do they try to strike a trade with another team with solid point guard depth? Or, do they revamp the offense?

Unfortunately, the Pistons likely won’t be willing to pay the price of a starting caliber point guard.

That leaves the Pistons trying to make due with what they have.

I would guess that the team will see how the season goes before doing anything major to the offense.

Hopefully the Pistons can survive while Jackson is out, and hopefully Jackson’s recovery is quick and effective.

Detroit Pistons could be without Reggie Jackson for longer than they expected

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