Hawks second-year shooting guard John Jenkins will be out for the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on his lower back today, the team announced. Jenkins hasn’t played since December 20th. The team had since listed him as out indefinitely while he underwent therapy on his back.
The loss of Jenkins, the 23rd overall pick in 2012, probably doesn’t change Atlanta’s plans much. The Hawks already possess a $5.15MM disabled player exception to compensate for the loss of Al Horford. They also have a pro-rated amount of their room exception, worth $2.26MM, and nearly $1.8MM in cap space.
The news is a tougher blow for Jenkins, who played in just 13 games this season, and saw his minutes reduced to 12.2 per game from 14.8 per contest in his rookie year. He’ll remain under his rookie scale contract for next season, but there appears to be a strong chance that the Hawks will decline his $2.228MM option for 2015/16.