Tari Eason undergoes season-ending knee surgery
Houston Rockets forward Tari Eason officially underwent season-ending surgery on his lower leg, the team officially announced Tuesday. The recovery time will be approximately four months and he should be ready to play in 2024-25, barring any setbacks, they said in their press release.
It reads as follows:
“The surgery, which was performed by Dr. Ned Amendola at Duke University, involved excising and bone grafting the lesion along with inserting an intramedullary rod in his tibia to help accelerate healing.
“The issue became symptomatic for Eason after sustaining a blow to his leg during a preseason game vs. Indiana on Oct. 10, 2023. It was not at risk of causing a fracture to his tibia and presented a possibility of healing with non-surgical treatment which would have allowed Eason to return to play this season.
“Following a slow healing process, the decision was made to move forward with the surgery in order for Eason to be ready for the start of next season. He is expected to make a full recovery in approximately four months.”
Eason, who will turn 23-years-old in May, was limited to just 22 games this season. He last appeared on New Year’s Day against the Detroit Pistons, where he finished with 17 points, four rebounds and three steals on 8-of-15 shooting across 24 minutes.
Despite battling his ailing knee throughout the season, Eason was still one of, if not the team’s best multi-positional defenders while maintaining his efficiency offensively. For the season, he averaged 9.8 points, 7.0 rebounds, 1.4 steals and 0.9 blocks in 21.8 minutes–equating to 3.7 stocks (2.3 steals + 1.4 blocks) per 36 minutes — shooting 46.6 percent from the floor and 36.0 percent from 3-point range.
The Rockets are all but out of contention for a play-in, being 5.5 games behind the Golden State Warriors for the final play-in spot in the West with just 18 games remaining. So there should not have been zero rush to bring him back anyway.
Even though he was reportedly working out and slowly building up before a possible return, the long-term plan of fully cleaning up the knee is probably the right decision for everyone involved, all things considered.
Eason, who was drafted No. 17 overall in 2022, has still two more years left on his rookie contract heading into 2024-25, per Spotrac. His third-year option was exercised on Oct. 30 while the deadline to exercise his fourth-year option will be on Oct. 31, 2024.
“When the game is taken away from you, you start to put things into perspective,” Eason said in early February. “While injured and it’s a struggle mentally, I’m still in the best position I’ve been in financially. I’m taking care of my mother, brother and grandmother. I am doing everything I wanted to do outside of basketball as a child.
“Having to watch the guys play, it has been hard. But through it all, there have been lessons. And I feel I will come back stronger.”
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