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SALT LAKE CITY — Alec Burks underwent his third ankle surgery of the last 11 months Tuesday, leaving the Jazz guard's status for the future even more in doubt.
According to the Jazz, Burks underwent an arthroscopic surgery "to debride his left ankle" Tuesday in New York City, performed by specialist Dr. Martin O'Malley. He'll return to Salt Lake City for rehab, but the extent of that rehab isn't clear. The Jazz stated in the release that Burks will be out indefinitely.
Burks first injured his leg in a collision with Paul Pierce of the Clippers last December, opting to have surgery on the ankle to speed rehabilitation on December 29, 2015. Burks then underwent a second arthroscopic surgery to his left knee and ankle on June 7. Then, he was expected to be ready by training camp.
But Burks hasn't participated in any contact drills during camp, practice or game warmups. Last week, he traveled the country to get "multiple medical consultations," clearly resulting in today's surgery.
On Oct. 12, head coach Quin Snyder said this about Burks: "Alec's been rehabilitating for a while. The thing there is that his body is ready, his mind is ready," Snyder said. "It's just putting it all together and making sure he's in a great place to compete again and not have other things surface as a result of that, whether it's soreness in his Achilles tendon or things like that." Clearly, for whatever reason, Burks hasn't been ready to compete, and maybe the debris in his ankle is still causing soreness.
For the Utah Jazz, the upshot is that it's going to be a long while before Burks is ready to contribute again.
