Pistons' Reggie Jackson out another 4 weeks with stress reaction in lower back
The beginning of the Detroit Pistons’ season has gone off the rails due to injuries, and it’s only getting worse.
Point guard Reggie Jackson, who played sparingly in just two of the team’s first six games due to back troubles, got a tough diagnosis that will keep him out through the end of November, per Yahoo Sports’ Vincent Goodwill.
Pistons guard Reggie Jackson has a stress reaction in his lower back. Will be out at least four weeks. Big loss for a team already missing Blake Griffin
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) November 2, 2019
Jackson has dealt with a bevy of injuries throughout his career — last season was the first in which he played a full 82 games. But back injuries are new to him after previously dealing with knee and thumb ailments, and it wore on him early.
The 29-year-old was clearly playing through pain and only averaged 5.0 points in 18.0 minutes in two contests. Team doctors advised him to treat the pain with rest, although the extent of the injury was not made public until Saturday.
“He’s getting low-back tightness that is exacerbated with the activity,” Pistons medical director Bernard Condevaux said, via the Detroit News. “He can go a certain amount of distance and then it starts to flare up. Once it starts to spasm up, he’s not moving right.”
Getting Jackson back to health will be crucial for the Pistons’ chances of returning to the playoffs. He grew into a consistent 3-point shooter last season (36.9 percent on 5.7 attempts per game) and is their top backcourt scoring threat at 16.2 ppg during his six-year tenure in Detroit.
Injuries are piling up for the Pistons
Jackson’s injury comes at an especially bad time for the Pistons, since star forward Blake Griffin has still not returned from arthroscopic knee surgery in April to address lingering pain that limited him in the second half and playoffs.
He was initially not expected to miss regular-season action, but instead, there's no timetable for his return. The good news is that Pistons have said they would re-examine Griffin in the next two weeks, and he has participated in shootarounds before games.
Without Jackson and Griffin, the Pistons have had to start Markieff Morris and Tim Frazier, leading to a tough loss to the Chicago Bulls on Friday. But Detroit shouldn’t be dropping games against also-rans in the East — even without their stars.
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