Indiana Pacers center James Wiseman has reportedly undergone surgery after suffering a torn left Achilles in the team's season-opener against the Detroit Pistons.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported the news, noting that a "full recovery timeline will be established in the coming weeks."
Wiseman suffered the injury in the first quarter of his Pacers debut after attempting a three-pointer and planting his left leg awkwardly while backpedaling to get back on defense.
The start of Wiseman's career has been derailed by several different injuries. The No. 2 pick in the 2020 NBA draft played just 39 games for the Golden State Warriors in his rookie year due to knee and wrist injuries and missed the entire 2021-22 season with a torn meniscus.
Wiseman started the 2022-23 season with Golden State before being traded to the Pistons halfway through the year. He managed to stay mostly healthy last season, playing 63 games and putting up 7.1 points and 5.3 rebounds in 17 minutes per game off the bench in Detroit.
The Pacers signed Wiseman to a two-year contract this offseason hoping to add some depth to their frontcourt, but now they'll likely be without him for the remainder of the year.
Another member of Indiana's frontcourt, Isaiah Jackson, is currently dealing with a groin injury and is day-to-day, so the Pacers don't have as much depth as they would like early on this season.
With Wiseman out for the foreseeable future and Jackson still trying to get healthy, Indiana will continue to look to starting center Myles Turner and will hope to get some solid production from backup big men like Obi Toppin and Jarace Walker.
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