The Portland Trail Blazers announced on Tuesday that their newly-signed center, Festus Ezeli, will be sidelined for the next six weeks. He received a bone marrow aspirate concentrate injection in his left knee to improve function and alleviate pain.
The 26-year-old Nigerian has never played a full season and with this procedure, he and his team hope that this will be the first time in four years he'll complete one. The past two seasons he only made 46 appearances each and missed the entirety of the 2013-14 season.
Festus Ezeli's battles with injury in the past has made teams reluctant to offer him a big contract despite having huge amounts of spending this summer. The Vanderbilt product settled for a two-year deal with Portland and only $7.4 million guaranteed.
After being part of a number of players the Golden State Warriors had to cut from their roster to make room for the signing of Kevin Durant, the former 30th pick of the 2012 draft agreed to move to Oregon to be the shot blocker and inside presence Portland badly needs.
His defensive prowess will hopefully relieve pressure off stars Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum to score more points.
Ezeli has career averages of 4.2 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in only 14.1 minutes per game. His numbers are destined to move higher as he is expected to play a bigger role with the Blazers.
However, that will all depend on his health and if Festus Ezeli can play more games this coming season.
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