Utah Jazz: Trey Burke, with broken finger, now expected to miss 8 to 12 weeks
By Jody Genessy, Deseret News
Published: Monday, Oct. 14 2013 10:48 a.m. MDT
SALT LAKE CITY — The Trey Burke news got worse over the weekend.
The Utah Jazz's rookie point guard will have surgery to repair fractured bone in his broken right index finger, the team announced Monday morning. The surgery will take place Tuesday in Salt Lake City.
Burke is expected to be sidelined for eight to 12 weeks because the nature of the break requires some pins to be inserted into his finger for a full recovery, his agent told the Deseret News.
The Jazz begin their 2013-14 season on Oct. 30, and that timeline would have Burke return somewhere between Dec. 9 and Jan. 6. That could leave the Jazz's starting point guard sidelined anywhere from 22 to 36 games.
Initially, Burke's camp hoped the 20-year-old would return after three weeks.
"It’s unfortunate," Jazz coach Tyrone Corbin said. "It’s part of the business getting hurt and seeing how he responds."
Veteran John Lucas III will handle the starting playmaker duties in Burke's absence, but the Jazz only have roster hopefuls Scott Machado and Lester Hudson on the point-guard depth chart.
The Jazz will explore other options as far as looking into trades and evaluating potential free-agent point guards.