Pistons' Jason Maxiell (eye) has season-ending surgery

Pistons forward Jason Maxiell will miss the rest of the 2012-13 season. (Issac Baldizon/Getty Images) By Ben Golliver The Pistons announced Monday that forward
Pistons' Jason Maxiell (eye) has season-ending surgery
Pistons' Jason Maxiell (eye) has season-ending surgery /

Pistons forward Jason Maxiell will miss the rest of the 2012-13 season. (Issac Baldizon/Getty Images)

Pistons forward Jason Maxiell will miss the rest of the 2012-13 season. (Issac Baldizon/Getty Images)

By Ben Golliver

The Pistons announced Monday that forward Jason Maxiell has undergone season-ending surgery to repair a detached retina in his eye.

The Associated Press reports that Maxiell had complained of blurry vision in recent days. Pistons.com reported that coach Lawrence Frank addressed Maxiell's surgery, which will sideline him for two months, on Monday night.

“You feel horrible for Jason,” Lawrence Frank said before Monday’s game at Toronto. “He’s a very, very professional guy. You know exactly what you’re going to get every day. You hate to see any of your guys get injured and especially like that, where your season is over.”

“The positives are the surgery went well,” Frank said. “He won’t be able to resume any basketball activities for two months, but the good thing is it’s not career threatening. He’ll be able to get back to playing basketball.”

Maxiell, 30, is in the final season of a four-year, $20 million contract and will become an unrestricted free agent this summer. He averaged 6.9 points and 5.7 rebounds in 24.8 minutes per game for the Pistons this season. The No. 26 pick in the 2005 draft has spent the entirety of his eight-year NBA career in Detroit.

Frank recently moved rookie center Andre Drummond into the starting lineup, in place of Maxiell, alongside Greg Monroe. Reserve forwards Jonas Jerebko and Charlie Villanueva can be expected to fill out the Pistons' frontcourt rotation.


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Ben Golliver
BEN GOLLIVER

Ben Golliver is a staff writer for SI.com and has covered the NBA for various outlets since 2007. The native Oregonian and Johns Hopkins University graduate currently resides in Los Angeles.