DETROIT — Pistons guard Jaden Ivey had successful surgery to repair a broken fibula in his left leg and will be re-evaluated in four weeks, the team announced Thursday. Ivey sustained the injury with roughly 10 minutes remaining in the fourth quarter of Detroit’s 105-96 win over the Orlando Magic on Wednesday.
Magic guard Cole Anthony dove for a loose ball and collided with Ivey’s left leg. Ivey immediately fell to the ground and was writhing in pain, even grabbing a referee’s leg in discomfort at one point. He was stretchered off the floor after being attended to by the Pistons’ medical staff.
Anthony was visibly shaken up once he realized Ivey seemed seriously injured.
“It’s tough on all of us,” Detroit coach J.B. Bickerstaff said. “No better teammates or teammate than J.I. (Ivey). No one cares more about this thing than him. It’s tough to see.”
Jaden Ivey was carried out on a stretcher during the fourth quarter of the Pistons-Magic game after a collision with Cole Anthony. pic.twitter.com/r2uPX4ibLI
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Ivey was in the midst of his best season and looked to be taking the proverbial third-year leap. The 22-year-old is on pace for career highs in points, rebounds, steals, field goal percentage, 3-point percentage and 3-point attempts.
The team circled Ivey while he was down and prayed for their teammate. Cameras picked up Ausar Thompson in tears on the bench because of Ivey’s injury.
“To see him hurting like that is tough on us,” Cade Cunningham said. “But he’s built for it, he’s going to shake back, knowing him. He’s going to work his tail off and he’s going to be better than ever when he gets back. But it’s hard to see that, for sure.”
Ivey finished Wednesday with a team-high 22 points on 8-of-11 from the field and 5-of-6 from long range, four assists, a steal and a rebound in 27 minutes of action.
The No. 5 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft has made multiple 3s in 19 of his 30 games this season and his last outing without a make from long range was Nov. 10 against the Houston Rockets. Detroit has won five of its last eight games, already passing its win total from last season, and Ivey has been a key component of its success.
After multiple players showed concern for Ivey, the Pistons put emotions aside and closed out the rest of the fourth quarter to hold off the Magic.
“I give our guys credit for doing it,” Bickerstaff said. “At the heart of this team, what we’ve tried to preach all year since we’ve been here is the togetherness. If one guy goes down, you don’t want to let that guy down. So everybody else has to step up. It’s the emotions, the human aspect of it, but I thought our guys did a really good job of sticking together and getting it done.”
During Ivey’s absence, Thompson, rookie Ron Holland, Marcus Sasser and potentially Wendell Moore Jr. could see increased minutes.
Losing Ivey’s career-best 39.2 percent shooting from 3-point range will be a detriment to the Pistons, with Detroit entering Thursday ranked 16th in the league in 3-point percentage.
(Photo: Brian Sevald / NBAE via Getty Images)
