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The Detroit Pistons sent out the report to everyone, but The Detroit Free Press’ Omari Sankofa II actually screenshotted, so he gets quoted here:
Pistons announce that Killian Hayes’ hip injury will be treated with rehab and that he’ll be reevaluated in eight weeks. pic.twitter.com/z3gXTHNknl
— Omari Sankofa II (@omarisankofa) January 20, 2021
A “subluxation” is a fancy medical word for “not as bad as a full dislocation:”
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So that’s where Killian Hayes is right now. It had been more than two weeks since we had heard any update on his injury, so fans were left to wonder about what the Pistons and Killian had in mind for his recovery.
Killian will be re-evaluated in eight weeks. Note that “re-evaluated” is not “court-ready,” so I very much doubt we see Killian in late March, but hopefully we’ll have news about his progression in rehab sometime after the All-Star break (the All-Star Break is in March this season. The NBA calendar is weird this year, don’t forget).
Going with the non-surgical option leaves some hope that the severity of the subluxation is relatively minor. There had been some thought that Killian was “pre-habbing,” getting the injury slightly more ready before undergoing surgery, but now we know for sure that surgery is not the initial option Killian is going with. The specificity in the release that Killian has already seen two other doctors unaffiliated with the team, but is still choosing to go with rehab, also seems like “good” news - you would imagine that doctors unaffiliated with the team would have no incentive to tell Killian to take the non-surgical route (and, probably, get him back on the court more rapidly).
That said, I struggle to call this “good” news. The (admittedly limited) research I’ve done on hip injuries says, essentially, they worsen until they’re resolved surgically. Abstaining from surgery could just be prolonging the inevitable. Killian is still facing a long road back to the NBA - Surgery could still be in his future.
Additionally, Killian still facing the prospect of a “lost” rookie year, where he doesn’t get the practice or on-court experience he or the Pistons expected him to get this year, which affects his development as a player. And he looked much in need of that development prior to his injury.
With that said, I am not a doctor, and we’ll know more about Killian’s recovery in eight weeks. It can’t come fast enough.