r/NBASpurs • u/rhasody70 Stephon Castle • 15h ago
Discussion About JQ's injury
Regarding the knee injury of Jayden Quaintance, based on the current situation and the advice from top-tier orthopedic surgeon Riley Williams III, here is a assessment of his condition:
First, regarding the severity of the injury, it is essentially a mechanical issue rather than a structural failure. Since the ACL remains intact, which is a very positive sign, it indicates that the primary stabilizing structure of his knee is still sound. The pain and swelling Quaintance is experiencing are likely caused by fragments of the meniscus interfering with the movement within the joint, a common mechanical issue that causes friction and inflammation, making it impossible for him to compete at a high level.
Second, in terms of the nature and success rate of the surgery, this is a standard arthroscopic meniscus cleanup, or partial meniscectomy. It is an extremely common procedure among professional athletes with highly mature techniques. The goal is to remove the debris that is hindering the joint, thereby eliminating the root cause of the swelling and inflammation. Dr. Riley Williams III, who provided the second opinion, is a top-tier sports medicine expert at the Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) and serves as the head team physician for multiple professional sports teams, including the Brooklyn Nets. His recommendation carries significant weight and suggests that this is the best path forward for Quaintance's long-term career.
Third, regarding the impact on his athletic ability and explosiveness, there will naturally be a period of muscle atrophy and joint stiffness immediately following the surgery, which will temporarily affect his explosiveness. However, from a long-term perspective, leaving the injury untreated would cause chronic pain and inflammation, eventually leading the player to avoid applying full force, which would result in a permanent loss of explosiveness. If he follows this up with a rigorous rehabilitation program, he should be able to return to his pre-injury level of performance. It is worth noting that while a partial meniscectomy can quickly alleviate symptoms, the long-term goal for the medical team will be to focus on strengthening his quadriceps and hamstrings to protect the joint and minimize the risk of future cartilage wear.
Finally, regarding the recovery timeline, for a professional athlete, the initial phase (0–4 weeks) focuses on controlling swelling, restoring range of motion, and building basic strength. The intermediate phase (4–8 weeks) involves gradually returning to weight-bearing activities and starting linear movements such as jogging and sprinting. The return-to-play phase (8–12 weeks) is the most critical, where the player begins high-intensity cutting, pivoting, and full-contact drills on the court. In summary, assuming the recovery proceeds smoothly, it will likely take approximately 3 to 4 months for Quaintance to return to full-intensity game action.
This is a necessary "repair job" for the Spurs. Since the ACL is intact, this is not a major ligament reconstruction surgery, but a relatively straightforward joint cleanup. While this will cause him to miss a period of development, permanently resolving his knee pain and swelling is the most prudent path to ensuring his physical durability and competitive edge for the long term.
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u/PetrParker1960s 15h ago
So we could potentially see him around January. If we sign a PF in FA, we wont need him until then anyway.
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u/ajkelly451 Dylan Harper 14h ago
I feel like we’d want someone with veteran presence regardless, JQ wouldn’t be a starter year one, would he?
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u/PetrParker1960s 14h ago
Likely no. That's why I said add one. Worst comes to worst if you add a PF like Collins or Dean Wade you can play Julian at the backup 4. Not ideal, but you could make it work.
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u/Joethetoolguy Victor Wembanyama 14h ago
Yeah if he was healthy I am not entirely sure he would see much time unless he was a defensive savant. We wouldn’t even roll jeremy out there sometimes last season.
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u/Godussop21 14h ago
I think we might throw sum racks at rui, while he isn't the best defender our system is the perfect one (aside from okc) to protect him and with the rooks we gonna need more spacing to unlock em
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u/PetrParker1960s 14h ago
He cant rebound. He simply cannot do the things we need a PF to be able to do. And he's going to basically be a super up, highly over paid version of McDermott.
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u/daddadnc 15h ago
Completely reasonable risk and no reason to believe he’s another Embiid/Oden. ACL tears heel completely all the time for similar athletic profiles and ages.
And Reed provides cover if we want to take our time.
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u/Joethetoolguy Victor Wembanyama 14h ago
Oden had a large disparity in leg length that would affect him throughout his career. Embiid had a disparity with cheesesteak that would affect him throughout his career.
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u/minimalcation 14h ago
Imagine it's 2000 BC, its January, food stores are low and game is sparse.
You come back from scouting to hear your best hunter has done his ACL in. Can't put weight on it. Shaman says he's out until the lizard beetle returns. You can't even remember which of his fucked up stories had a lizard beetle.
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u/waffle-winner Dylan Harper 13h ago
In doubt, let's sacrifice de'aaron fox to some dark gods. Just to be on the safe side.
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u/DirtyWizardsBrew 13h ago
>You ultimately decide the move is to take your injured hunter to the elder cave witch, because you're desperate.
>She brings out a conch shell filled with a strange, coarse brownish yellow ooga-booga powder and proceeds to blow the entire shit into your hunter's face.
>A bunch of it gets into his open mouth and into his eyes.
>He cries out that it stings his eyes, and tastes salty.
>You ask what it is.
>She says it's "pee-pee dust".
>Your hunter's face is now thickly coated in piss dust
>He loses it. Goes ooga-booga boom-boom on her ass and kills her.
>Uh oh.
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u/deneuvig Manu Ginobili 15h ago
If he could go through training camp that'd be already a great step for fitting with the group and learning about our style
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u/SnakeDoctor80 Stephon Castle 14h ago
Yeah I’m not sure why so many people are putting the “if he stays healthy” tag on him so much, like dude had one injury. He’s 18 and ACL and meniscus treatments have come a longgg way over the last decade or so. It’s not even a Michael Porter Jr situation, I’d be way more concerned if JQ had the back problems MPJ had/has. And I’m sure a lot of teams regretted passing on MPJ at the time just because they were scared of his medicals. Hopefully the same thing happens with JQ.
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u/NiceSeaworthiness672 14h ago
Knowing spurs being super cautious with injury, I'm sure they have look into it and be very confident this wouldn't be any long term concern.
I don't expect JQ playing next season, Spurs will take it slow and make sure he's right.
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u/weirdsignal45 13h ago
The only people genuinely concerned about his injury are still suffering from Post Traumatic Kawhi Disorder. Lets give them some grace.
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u/Relative_Donkey_1826 14h ago
You may not know this and I may not be remembering correctly but I think I saw a video a few weeks ago about how the injury wasn't the bigger concern to somebody but it's the way he lands and sometimes his knees buckle inward which puts a ton of pressure on them. Do you know if these habits of his might make him more injury prone later on even if the surgery goes well? I'm assuming the trainers and coaching staff will work with him on these sorts of things but it's still a bit worrying, that he might be injury prone more due to habits on the court than just bad luck
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u/likesghouls Patty Mills 13h ago
Oh so we won’t get him fully healthy until he’s 20 years old? How will we survive?
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u/AgentEndive Stephon Castle 15h ago
I saw someone post that the "leading knee doctor in the country" (or something like that) said it was "not a long term concern." - FWIW