Jazz Rumors

The Jazz delivered some tough news Tuesday, announcing that Alec Burks will have left shoulder surgery and miss the rest of the season. That the team just two months ago signed Burks to a four-year extension worth $42MM plus incentives makes his absence even tougher to swallow. GM Dennis Lindsey spoke with reporters, including Aaron Falk of The Salt Lake Tribune, shortly after making the announcement, and Lindsey let the media in on his thoughts about the extension as well as what comes next for the team. The entire question-and-answer session that Falk shares is worth a look, but we’ll pass along Lindsey’s three most noteworthy comments here:

On whether the team knew about Burks’ shoulder issues when he signed his extension:

“Yeah. We knew because we knew about it during the draft. This is an [injury] that predated Alec and the Utah Jazz. … Really, I think as much as anything, the reason why he was so durable is a credit to Alec, [trainer Gary Briggs and strength coach Mark McKown] and all the pre-hab.”

On whether he’s disappointed that he signed Burks to the extension:

“I don’t think so. Every contract signing and certainly extension signing, our medical staff does a [thorough] review — X-rays, MRIs, physical examinations — and Alec, at that point in time, passed. So no disappointment because we don’t think this is going to impact his long-term playing career, either from a length standpoint or a quality standpoint. So we’re very comfortable with the decision that we made and the knowledge we had at that particular time.”

On whether the absence of Burks will prompt a roster move:

“So we have 15 [players] now. Some are partially guaranteed, some are non-guaranteed, so we do have some flexibility. We’re comfortable with where we’re at. Again, someone’s misfortune is another’s opportunity. Certainly Rodney [Hood] will get a lot of those minutes. We wanted to see Rodney as a two-guard so here’s a little bit of his opportunity. Last night, Dante [Exum] played a lot with Trey [Burke] and Dante’s certainly big enough to [handle] the position as well. And then there are some guys who haven’t received as much opportunity, Ian Clark, Toure’ Murry, Patrick Christopher, that we’ll be able to kick the tires [on] a little bit and take a look at. And as you can imagine, we’ll be evaluating what’s available to us. But frankly, [coach] Quin [Snyder]’s very comfortable with where we’re at and we’ll see how the young guys do.”

5:36pm: Burks will miss the remainder of the season, the Jazz have announced. “Alec’s long-term health has been our top priority throughout this process, and although it is unfortunate that we will be without his services on the court the rest of this season, we commend Alec’s commitment and continued effort to play through considerable pain to this point,” said Jazz GM Dennis Lindsey.  “After continued consultation with our medical staff, Alec and his representation, we have unanimously agreed that it would be most prudent for Alec to have this procedure performed now in order to ensure that he will be healthy and ready for the start of next season.”

3:36pm: The Jazz are concerned that continued shoulder problems for Alec Burks will knock him out for the season, reports Marc Stein of ESPN.com (Twitter link). Burks has missed the team’s last two games with a strained left shoulder. He also missed a pair of games earlier this month with trouble in the same shoulder, and there were conflicting reports about whether he would need surgery. The 23-year-old shooting guard signed a four-year, $42MM extension, with incentives that could push the value to $45MM, in October. He’s making a little more than $3.034MM in the final year of his rookie scale contract this season, but the Jazz couldn’t apply for a Disabled Player Exception, which would be worth $1,517,178, since they’re under the cap.

The original injury didn’t appear to have a profound effect on his performance, as his scoring and three-point shooting percentage have both gone up since he missed those two early-December games. His numbers overall this season, his first as a full-time starter, have been similar to the ones he posted last year when he saw 5.2 fewer minutes per game. Burks is shooting a career-worst 40.3%, though that percentage has remained steady since his brief absence earlier this month.

The Jazz are 10-21 and without legitimate playoff hopes in the Western Conference, so the loss of Burks wouldn’t derail any grand plans for this season. Still, the team surely hoped he could develop further under new coach Quin Snyder to help the extension look less like the player-friendly arrangement that it appeared to be when Burks put pen to paper. The Jazz only have 12 players with fully guaranteed contracts, as our roster counts show, so they have flexibility to find a replacement for Burks if they wish. However, all of their contracts would become guaranteed if they’re still on the books come January 10th, the leaguewide guarantee date.