Former Duke freshman guard Frank Jackson underwent foot surgery today to repair a stress reaction in his right foot. Jackson suffered the injury during his freshman year at Duke where he averaged 10.9 points and 1.7 assists.
Jackson recently signed with an agent forgoing the rest of his college eligibility. Today is the last day for underclassmen to return to school and withdraw their name from the NBA draft. The surgery coming on this day seems to be more of a coincidence as he has had the injury for months now. Jackson performed well at the combine with the injury and decided now with an expected return date of July.
NBA Draft prospect Frank Jackson undergoes foot surgery, July return expected. Story on @TheVertical. https://t.co/mVAhXXAl2o
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojVerticalNBA) May 24, 2017
The move to sign an agent is risky as Jackson is projected as a 2nd rounder in almost every mock draft. With that comes an unguaranteed contract where Jackson needs play well during summer league to make an NBA roster. Jackson’s projected return would place him fully recovered sometime around the start of summer league.
Jackson is a guy who didn’t get the chance to play a ton of point guard at Duke this past year. He will need to showcase those skills in his time in summer league if he plays. It will be interesting to watch with Jackson playing more like a shooting guard in a point guard’s body.
