3:52pm: The Celtics have officially announced that Sullinger underwent successful lumbar disc surgery today. He's expected to be ready for training camp next season, according to the team.
2:32pm: Celtics forward Jared Sullinger will miss the remainder of his rookie year with a back injury, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports. According to Wojnarowski, Sullinger will require season-ending surgery.
Leading up to last year's draft, Sullinger was medically red flagged by NBA doctors due to concerns about his back, which likely resulted in him slipping out of the lottery. The Celtics drafted the Ohio State product 21st overall, a pick that appeared to be a steal, but it seems that those concerns about his back were warranted.
For the Celtics, things go from bad to worse, as the Sullinger news comes less than a week after the team learned that Rajon Rondo has suffered a season-ending ACL injury. There was already speculation that the Celtics would need to make a roster move as a result of the Rondo injury, and Sullinger's injury makes it even more unlikely that the C's will be any sort of threat in the postseason this year — if they even qualify.
Chris Mannix of SI.com had reported earlier this week that rival teams considered Sullinger one of the Celtics' most attractive assets, though Mannix noted that Boston wasn't expected to part with him in a trade.