REPORT: Reggie Jackson Had Minor “Procedure” on Ankle, Has Not Been Able to Play this Summer

Reggie Jackson says he feels better, but has been unable to get on the basketball court this summer. (Raj Mehta/USA Today Sports)

The health of Reggie Jackson has been a giant question mark looming over the Detroit Pistons for he past two seasons.

It appears it will be an issue for another one too.

According to Keith Langlois of nba.com, Jackson has not been on a basketball court all summer and had a minor procedure similar to what he did with his knee back in 2016. That procedure two years ago was a platelet-enriched plasma injection, which lead to Jackson missing the first 20 games of the season.

In addition to the procedure, Jackson has not been able to get on the court for any intense work. Langlois mentions that Jackson has been able to meet with new head coach Dwane Casey, a positive. He watched individual workouts conducted by Casey and the assistant coaches, but was unable to get out there himself.

Reggie Jackson missed 37 games last season with a severe ankle injury, a grade 3 sprain. Apparently it is still lingering with Jackson this summer. “Probably didn’t heal the way everybody thought it might once we had time off,” Jackson said to Langlois. “Just haven’t been able to get on the court, but been doing everything I can to get healthy.”

While it is discouraging that Jackson was unable to have a normal offseason, there are some positives to take away. Jackson says in the article that the ankle feels substantially better than it did last season.

“It actually feels good. I feel like I can cut again,” Jackson said. “Once I get going fully, just see how it feels. But it feels night and day compared to last year. … I think anybody who watched, I never looked right. I never ran right. But that’s what you do. Everybody has nicks and bruises in this game. I wouldn’t change it any other way. I would still come back and play. It was just unfortunate that it wasn’t healed.”

As for training camp, which opens up next week, there is uncertainty as to where Jackson will be and how much he participates. I’m going day to day,” he continued to Langlois. “I don’t necessarily know. I’m going to come in and do what they tell me, what they allow me to do. I think the organization, our coaching staff and the training staff have a great game plan on when I’ll be back and how to implement myself back into the workouts.”

If it was still unknown how crucial Reggie Jackson is to the Pistons’ success, it comes in the simplest stat - record. Detroit was 19-14 with Jackson in the lineup and 12-25 without him. After returning late in the season, Jackson and the Pistons went 6-2 to nearly salvage a playoff spot.

(Featured image by Duane Burleson/AP)