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Report: Rockets rookie Sam Dekker expected to miss 3 months after back surgery
It's far from the biggest story surrounding the Houston Rockets this Wednesday morning, but it's noteworthy nonetheless — Rockets rookie forward Sam Dekker, the No. 18 pick in the 2015 NBA draft, will undergo back surgery Friday and is expected to miss the next three months, according to Jeff Goodman of ESPN.com.
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The injury puts the development of the 6-foot-9, 230-pound Dekker on hold for the time being. The Wisconsin product had seen just six minutes of NBA playing time over the course of three brief mop-up duty stints against the Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors and Sacramento Kings. With the Rockets working through early-season struggles, Kevin McHale had leaned on veteran wings Trevor Ariza and Corey Brewer rather than reaching to the end of the bench for the 21-year-old.
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With minutes scarce, the Rockets planned to send him down to their D-League affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, to get some run, a move with which the former Badger was reportedly on-board. A sore back scuttled those plans, though, prior to the subsequent diagnosis that Dekker — who had been limited at times by a sore lower back during Summer League and through the Rockets' training camp and preseason slate — would need to go under the knife to address the persistent issue.
With Houston still awaiting an estimated return date for power forward Donatas Motiejunas, who's now seven months removed from his own back surgery, you'd understand some skepticism over that three-month timeline, and some concern as to when the versatile swingman might actually be able to take the floor and start contributing to the big club. As if the 4-7 Rockets didn't already have enough to worry about these days.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
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