Detroit Pistons reserve guard Jodie Meeks has sustained a Jones fracture in his right foot and is expected to miss 3-4 months after undergoing successful surgery last night, the team has announced.
Meeks suffered the injury early in the second quarter of Wednesday night’s game against the Utah Jazz and did not return after just six minutes of play.
In his short two-year tenure with the Pistons, Meeks has already experienced two severe injuries, as he also missed 22 games last season due to a stress reaction in his lower back. With the timetable set at 12-16 weeks, Meeks is likely to be out until March.
In his absence, the emerging Reggie Bullock is expected to earn more minutes off the bench.
“Reggie will be our primary guy at the two,” coach Stan Van Gundy said Friday morning. “He’s ready to go. We’ve got 100 percent confidence in him.”
“Not saying it’s great that (Meeks) ends up going down. That’s still my teammate,” Bullock said. “I know what he brought to the game. It’s good to stay in this groove that I was in with it being so close right here from preseason. It’s all about me just going out and doing the things I was doing in preseason and make it continue to happen and make the coaches still continue to believe in me, make them believe they picked up my option for a reason,” Bullock continued.
Meeks averaged 11.1 points and 1.7 rebounds last season for the Pistons in 24.4 minutes per game. He was brought to the team to help bolster their three-point shooting but will unfortunately be sidelined for almost the entire season.
“He’s was in good spirits – not too down,” Van Gundy said of Meeks. “A little disappointed, obviously, to have two years in a row like this. Feels a little snake bit, but he was in good spirits.”