Pistons guard Reggie Bullock will undergo surgery to repair his torn left meniscus, reports Shams Charania of The Vertical (via Twitter). According to Charania, Bullock is expected to be sidelined for two to four months following the procedure.
Bullock’s torn meniscus was first confirmed last Friday by the Pistons, though at the time the team didn’t provide a timeline for the fourth-year veteran’s recovery, suggesting further evaluation was required. As I observed last week, players who suffer a torn meniscus are typically sidelined for at least a few weeks, and occasionally end up missing several months depending on the severity of the tear, as well as how the injury is treated and rehabbed. With Bullock set to go under the knife, it looks like he’ll miss most of the 2016/17 season.
The 25th overall pick in the 2013 draft, Bullock spent time with the Clippers and Suns before arriving in Detroit. Last season, he averaged a career-high 11.6 minutes per game for the team, and while his numbers (3.3 PPG, 1.8 RPG) were modest, he played solid defense. Bullock was extension-eligible this offseason, but didn’t ink a new deal with the Pistons, so he remains on track for restricted free agency in the summer of 2017. The 25-year-old, whose 2016/17 debut was delayed by back and hip problems, has appeared in just four games this season.
In Bullock’s absence, the Pistons have struggled to find a reliable backup for starting shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Stanley Johnson, Darrun Hilliard, and Michael Gbinije are all in the mix, but no one has stepped up and grabbed hold of the role so far, as we noted on Tuesday.