Jared Jackson Jr. to Undergo Season Ending Surgery
Per Utah Jazz official twitter page.
Not a huge surprise, the Jazz do not want OKC to get that 2026 First Round Pick. Plus, JJJ should be fully healthy next season!
Musculoskeletal radiologist here. They did the surgery to remove a synovial tumor called pigmented villonodular synovitis (PVNS), also known as diffuse or localized tenosynovial giant cell tumor. I see these every other week or so, and they can definitely recur even if the surgery is properly done. It’s hard to ensure you’re getting rid of all the tumor cells when they’re just floating around in the joint. It’s not quite the same as removing a tumor in your soft tissues that is more well-defined and localized. At least, it’s not a malignant tumor. Wishing JJJ the best, but wouldn’t be surprised if it recurs several years down the road.
Yikes, that sounds pretty concerning. How significantly does having this surgery affect an athlete’s mobility and strength, you think? This isn’t something an athlete would ever have performed flippantly, right?
Honestly, it’s all done arthroscopically, and you’re removing an extraneous structure as opposed to something native like a torn ACL.
I’m not saying it’s nothing, but it shouldn’t be THAT much worse than a surgery to treat structural damage. All in all, it still makes plenty of sense to give him ample time to recover.
I read MRIs for professional sports teams, and used to read for the NBA years ago. I’m just one voice who provides a diagnosis… the decision making that goes on from there between the team doctor, coach, management, and player is very very complex.
Thank you for volunteering your expertise.
Remember when Mark Williams was traded to the Lakers a few years ago but the trade was voided because something came up on the physical exam? Is this something that could’ve been caught on the physical or is it something that the Jazz could only have found out about after JJJ arrived at their facilities?
No, most people have no idea it’s growing in them until it’s very large or causing severe damage.
My guess is this was caught on a screening knee MRI. If he wasn’t a professional athlete, he would have no idea until years later.
Are you able to expand on that decision making? That is very fascinating. It obviously is much different than the traditional patient-doctor relationship. Is the patient in this context still in control of their own treatment decisions? Is the doctor in control of the decision? Could you shed some light on this?
It’s tough to really explain it thoroughly in a single comment. I will instead break it down by some key points:
Management is always the most important and main driver of decisions.
In medicine, doctors treat within guidelines. That means nothing is absolute, and in many cases, team doctors will present the player/team with several different treatment options/paths.
Pain is subjective. Pain can be multifactorial. Pain tolerance is variable. You can have every negative test in the world, but if the patient/player says they are in pain, a doctor is obligated to treat them.
Nobody would undergo surgery just for fun. People acting like this is being forced on him are ridiculous, especially if surgery now vs surgery later means a better chance at a full recovery
I’ll ask the question and eat the downvotes - how serious is this type of tumor in terms of urgency?
Would a player normally be able to wait until the end of the season to have it treated?
Would this have come up on a routine NBA player physical?
Usually not very urgent. Often I will be asked to take tissue samples to prove that it’s PVNS and not another disease like gout, synovial chondromatosis, or lipoma arborscens before it gets to the point of arthroscopic resection by the surgeon.
Can you explain why the delay in getting the surgery? Presumably this was discovered on the physical he took before playing any games for the Jazz, he plays a few games and now gets the surgery. Why not get the surgery as soon as it’s discovered?
Now explain Embiid please. I need to know if I need to prepare for heartbreak again
Bro needs surgery yet we were discussing murdering Jazz leadership yesterday.
As a Grizzlies fan, this makes me wonder how bad out medical staff really is. How did no one notice this for years, then as soon as he’s traded to Utah, they immediately diagnose the issue and treat it? If this was a one-off, I’d disregard it, but we’ve been one of the most injured teams in the league for years, and ended up losing Steven Adams because he lost trust in our medical staff as he rehabbed (you guessed it!) a knee injury. Just seems like incompetence from the Grizz at this point.
Looking into this, too, it’s actually not a mild growth or tumor.. this can cause some grief to people. To your point, the fact that it’s only showing up now is not a great vote of confidence on Memphis’ medical staff
Tbf players tend to go through a battery of tests, even moreso than the usual annual check ups, when they’re traded. I’d imagine an indication of this was picked up when he did tests during the trade, they took a week or so to do some further tests and consult specialists, and they just announced it now.
They noticed it because they’ve won 2 games in a row and want reasons to shut him down
You didn’t read the report did you? It clearly says they noticed it right after he got traded.
Of course I read it. Have you noticed he’s played several games, but it’s so concerning they need to shut him down after winning 2 games in a row? At least one of those they were trying to lose but couldn’t get it done in the 4th
I get that they’re tanking, but he’s had this injury presumably for awhile, and the Grizz just seemed to not know about it at all. That’s my point. Our medical staff sucks. Also, this condition REQUIRES surgery, so it isn’t some fake injury bs like we see so often these days. Also also, if all you’re trying to do is tank, there are less risky ways to do it than putting your max-contract defensive anchor under the knife.
Brother he has a tumor in his knee, it’s not cancerous but left untreated it can grow significantly and do structural damage to his knee
Okay guys, now its ethical apparently
No! He’s faking the tumor for the sake of tanking!
Eh, I don’t believe an NBA player undergoes surgery lightly. This is probably a real thing. Still, it’s terribly fortunate and coincidentally beneficial for the Jazz. I hope the NBA is auditing the medicals of stuff like this.
I kinda figured it was a way to let him not play, but I just looked up pigmented villonodular synovitis growth, sounds awful. If it’s real I’m glad he’s getting surgery.
Doubt its fake man…
If there’s any recurring concern with this injury it’s not coincidentally beneficial at all. He’s owed over 50 million each of the next 3 seasons. I would be concerned as a Jazz fan.
Well, the trade was awful to begin with, and I loudly (as loudly as someone as irrelevant as I am can be “loud”) said as much when it went down. You know what I mean.
It sounds a lot like Kessler’s surgery, to be honest, in terms of urgency/severity. Like, Walker had this bum shoulder dating back to college that worked enough to get by, but was clearly bugging him, and the timing was smart to allow the team’s rim protection to dip for this season and have him ready for a strong push next year.
I think a lot of us have little nagging things like this but it’s never convenient to get them taken care of. I have a finger that I busted a few years ago when I hit some ice on skis and went down awkwardly, but I’ve just never really addressed it because it works more or less well enough.
Probably an update since you posted, but this definitely sounds severe. Apparently PVNS can destroy your joints, and be recurring. Good to get the tumor out now.
It’s very possible. I’m certainly not a doctor, but if I had to put my money down, I would guess the following about JJJ’s surgery:
Hopefully, he recovers quickly and is able to stay on the floor next season when the Jazz finally give us 48 minutes of consistent effort!
Well at least they still have Jaren Jackson Jr. to play for them!
Utah won a game and said “nah fam….”
2 games
FTFY
3 out of their last 4*
Reddit Doctors: How was this missed during the physical?
Per The Score
Utah Jazz forward Jaren Jackson Jr. is expected to miss the remainder of the season to undergo surgery on his left knee, sources told NBA insider Chris Haynes.
The former Memphis Grizzlies star was traded to the Jazz on Feb. 3. Utah reportedly only found out about his knee issue that required surgery after the move, Haynes adds.
We won a game? Scan his knee again
The Tank commander JJJ
Feb-March gotta be the worse part of the nba season just straight ass
Does this effect the trade? He played a game but there’s no chance this just happened, right? Now granted the jazz can’t afford to win any games so they really don’t care, but if a team was going to veto a trade last year for something seemingly more minor, how doesn’t this slide the trade one way or another?
I just can’t believe any of this is real with the way the jazz are tanking.
He went to Jared
Speedy recovery
I’m glad the jazz can lose ethically now 🙄
I love jared jackson
Pube transplant
Who is Jared?!
No word on this during the trade or season…?!
Oh no, now they’re gonna suck
The surgery is for an ingrown toenail and definitely has nothing to do with tanking /s
Peak tank commander moment from him, are we about to find out later he joined a gambling site partnership and they had odds on him playing through the season
Stg they traded for him because he needed surgery. Anything to lose more games.
This is so surprising /s
It’s JJJ’s fault. They were playing too well. Had to sit all 4 bigs the last 5 mins of a winnable loss the other night. That’s right. The Jazz in a super close game sat Markkenan JJJ Filipowski Nurkic so they could lose by 4.
Out with tankitis
Out with knee tankenitis
Ya hate to see it
Wowzers! They take their tank very seriously!
I looked up the surgery after posting, not fun. I mean it’s nice he’s getting it now, but he’d probably get it in the offseason and take months to recover if the Jazz were trying to be good.
Traded to basketball purgatory and not even allowed to play the sport. Sad times to be Jaren Jackson Jr.
Raptors fans talking shit about this is hilarious given you traded for BI last season and sat him the rest of the year because of an ankle sprain.
Dude that team has a ring in the past decade, use your brain
Least insufferable OKC fan
Smartest Jazz fan
Only teams with chips are allowed to tank, I’m sorry, you’re correct. We are a blight to society.
They are given the grace, yes. When your team hasn’t made the WCF since before Obama was president, you do not get that grace.
Bitch, shut the fuck up, your team tanked its ass off, then got lucky that Kawhi Leonard held the Clippers hostage for a costar, lmao.
thunder fan acting superior over tanking when they did the exact same thing to win their chip is hilarious man