Kings fans will have to wait until at least January to watch Sacramento's first-round draft pick Devin Carter take the court with the team.
Carter, the No. 13 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, underwent left shoulder surgery last week to repair a torn labrum and will miss at least six months.
Stanford Medicine's Dr. Michael T. Freehill spoke to NBC Sports California to further break down Carter's injury and some of his concerns with the recovery timeline.
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"The fact that they said it's a six-month return makes me think that this likely was a superior labrum tear, which is a little bit trickier with regards to healing and the road to recovery," Dr. Freehill said. "But generally speaking, they'll start doing physical therapy pretty quick. You're in a sling usually somewhere around six weeks. And then you work on that range of motion up through probably eight to 10 weeks before you'll even start strengthening.
"So generally, you'll probably start strengthening, in this case, 10 weeks earliest, probably closer to 12 weeks. And then once you get through all that strengthening, then you're starting to introduce a lot of those sport-specific activities. His particular sport being above head, that introduces probably a little bit longer of a recovery because you do have to get that full motion and the dynamic movements up above head."
With a lot of Carter's game in college featuring monster slams above the rim, Dr. Freehill anticipates the lengthy recovery timetable could be to ensure his upper body is fully repaired.
Dr. Freehill also noted that had it been a different part of the labrum that was torn, such as the posterior labrum or dislocation, the timeline to recovery is generally four months.
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But the Kings are choosing the cautious route with their first-round selection, especially given their sky-high expectations for the mentally tough rookie.
The Kings said Carter's next medical update will come in January, but for the first three months of the 2024-25 NBA season, he'll begin his rookie season on the sidelines.