Mid-Valley Sports

At the start of the year it looked like one of Trail Blazers’ coach Nate McMillan’s biggest problems in Portland was going to be keeping everyone happy with enough playing time. That’s not exactly the problem now. Forward Travis Outlaw had surgery to repair a stress fracture in his left foot today and the team is saying he will be out for three to five months. If he’s back at the short end of that range, he can still contribute this year. If its the long end, then he’s essentially done for the season.

This injury comes after forward Nicolas Batum was sidelined by shoulder surgery just before the season started. Rookie forward Jeff Pendergraph is not available because of hip surgery and rookie guard Patty Mills is sidelined by a broken foot he suffered this summer.

That leaves the Blazers with 11 healthy players. That number includes a veteran, Juwan Howard, that the team does not want to lean on too heavily, and unproven rookie Dante Cunningham.

In the short term, this will open the door for a lot more playing time for Rudy Fernandez and Jerryd Bayless. Fernandez had seen his minutes go down initially with the arrival of guard Andre Miller and Bayless wasn’t playing at all. Now they are both going to be relied upon very heavily.

Here’s the press release out of Portland:

PORTLAND, Ore. – Trail Blazers forward Travis Outlaw underwent successful surgery to repair a stress fracture of the fifth metatarsal bone in his left foot, the Portland Trail Blazers announced today. He is expected to be sidelined for three to five months.

In 11 games this season, Outlaw averaged 9.9 points (37.6% FG, 38.7% 3-PT, 87.5% FT), 3.5 rebounds and 0.7 assists in 21.0 minutes. He scored in double figures four times and led Portland’s bench in scoring on five occasions.

Dr. Jay Crary performed the surgery at Southwest Washington Regional Surgery Center in Vancouver, Wash.

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