Rodney Stuckey injury: Fractured thumb requires surgery, timetable not yet known

Rodney Stuckey suffered a rather painful injury Wednesday afternoon, the Pistons just announced. From the team's official press release:

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. – The Detroit Pistons announced today that guard Rodney Stuckey has suffered a fracture of the distal phalanx on his right thumb and will miss tonight’s game vs. Miami.  The injury occurred on Wednesday afternoon as a result of the thumb becoming caught inside the door jamb of Stuckey’s vehicle while the door was closing.

Pistons medical staff confirmed the injury this morning following an x-ray.  He is scheduled to have surgery on Friday, October 11 and a timeline for his return will be determined following that procedure.

In laymen's terms (thanks, Wikipedia), the distal phalanx is the tip of his right thumb (ie, above the last knuckle and behind the fingernail). Basically, dude slammed the tip of his thumb in a car door -- holy hell that must have hurt.

If a fluke injury like this is going to happen, though, at least it happened early in the preseason instead of late. (In Stuckey's rookie year, he fractured his left hand in Detroit's preseason finale. I actually covered that game for HoopsWorld -- here's my article about that injury.)

I'm not sure whether we should read into the fact the injury requires surgery instead of a simple splint -- it sounds like we'll learn more Friday. In the meantime, this somewhat explains Mo Cheeks' decision to start Kyle Singler at shooting guard Thursday night against the Miami Heat, especially considering his pregame comments made it sound like Chauncey Billups was already scheduled to get the night off.

Once we learn Stuckey's timetable, we'll have a better idea how this affects Detroit's guard rotation early in the year. At the very least, it should open the door for additional playing time for Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in the preseason. Whether he makes the most of that opportunity remains to be seen.