Sixers' Jared McCain undergoes surgery to repair torn ligament in his right thumb
Published in Basketball
PHILADELPHIA — Jared McCain is, once again, on the road to recovery.
The 76ers announced Wednesday morning that the guard underwent surgery to repair an ulnar collateral ligament tear in his right thumb on Tuesday at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York. Dr. Michelle Carlson performed the surgery on McCain.
McCain suffered the injury while working out Thursday, the day before the unofficial start of his second season. The Sixers say McCain will be reevaluated in approximately four weeks. The team said it will provide further updates when they are warranted.
Before he was hurt, the 6-foot-2 McCain was cleared to be a full training-camp participant after missing the final 4 1/2 months of last season with a torn meniscus in his left knee. McCain suffered the injury on Dec. 13 during a home loss to the Indiana Pacers.
“I feel for him, man,” Tyrese Maxey said. “He’s coming from his knee, the meniscus injury, and he’s worked his tail off to get where he is today. But the thing about Jared is he’s a positive person. He works extremely hard, so he’ll get back extremely soon, and I know he’ll be 100 percent healthy.
“The times I played with him in the backcourt, it was great. Jared does a lot of things that a lot of teams really would like. He shoots the ball well. He passes the ball pretty well. He competes on defense. He’s going to do all those different things, and he’s a great teammate. So we just want him to get back healthy and can’t wait to have him back out there.”
McCain, now 21, was a revelation for the Sixers last season and would have been a major contributor for a struggling team if he had remained healthy.
Despite playing in just 23 games, he finished tied for seventh in the NBA’s rookie of the year voting. McCain was awarded a third-place vote from the media panel of 100 voters. Before the injury, he was the favorite to win the award.
McCain averaged 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists. He also shot 46% from the field — including 38.3% from 3. The California native joined Hall of Famer Allen Iverson as the only Sixers rookies to average at least 15 points and two made 3-pointers.
He made three or more 3-pointers in eight consecutive games from Nov. 8-22 to set an NBA rookie record.
McCain was named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month for games played in October and November. He posted career highs of 34 points and 10 assists on Nov. 13 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. The performance came during a stretch in which he scored 20 or more points in seven consecutive games.
Once he returns, the Sixers hope that McCain can form a solid guard rotation with Maxey, rookie VJ Edgecombe, and unsigned restricted free agent Quentin Grimes this season. Wednesday is the deadline for Grimes to accept his one-year, $8.7 million qualifying offer, which comes with a no-trade clause.
The Sixers are in Abu Dhabi to play exhibition games against the New York Knicks on Thursday and Saturday. The team will open the regular season on Oct. 22 against the Boston Celtics at TD Garden.
McCain wasn’t completely left out of the trip. He spoke to teammates Maxey and Kyle Lowry after they arrived. That was made clear when the NBA posted an image to Instagram of Lowry showing his phone to the camera. Who was there? McCain from his hospital bed.
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