Tyler Ennis undergoes shoulder surgery, will miss summer league

The Milwaukee Bucks' season may be over, but the injury jinx continues to haunt the team's rookies.

The Bucks announced via press release on Tuesday that rookie point guard Tyler Ennis had shoulder surgery earlier in the day, with no specific timetable for his recovery.

Milwaukee Bucks General Manager John Hammond announced that guard Tyler Ennis underwent successful labral repair surgery to his right shoulder today. After consultation with Bucks orthopaedist Dr. Michael Gordon and Dr. David Altcheck from the Hospital for Special Surgery, the procedure was performed this morning in New York.

Ennis played garbage time minutes in the Bucks' season-ending game six loss in Milwaukee on April 30, but it's not clear when he might have suffered the injury. Assuming it's a torn labrum, Ennis could face months on the sidelines, erasing any hopes he had of playing for the Bucks' summer league team in Vegas (DAMN!) or for Team Canada thereafter.

Ironically, fellow Bucks point guard and Syracuse alum Michael Carter-Williams also underwent surgery on his labrum a little over a year ago. MCW returned to the court six months later on November 13, but he wasn't able to work on his shaky jumper over the summer and struggled with his shooting before landing in Milwaukee at the deadline. Not exactly an encouraging precedent for Ennis, who figured to battle Jerryd Bayless for backup point guard minutes this fall.

The Bucks' Rookie Curse

Ennis joins fellow Bucks 20-year-olds Jabari Parker (torn ACL) and Damien Inglis (broken foot) in suffering major injuries as rookies, while second rounder Johnny O'Bryant III also missed two months early in the season with a knee injury.

The good news is that Parker is reportedly on track with his rehab, and the hope is that he'll be ready to participate in training camp in October. Still, it's difficult to justify taking any undue risk with his recovery -- while there's precedent for NBA players returning to the court and performing at a high level within 10-12 months of ACL reconstruction, it's a difficult injury that brings major physical and mental hurdles. Perhaps to that end, the Bucks officially added rehab/strength specialist Suki Hobson to their training staff last week; Hobson has extensive experience in ACL rehabilitation, which you can read more about here, here and here. In late April the team also announced the addition of Troy Flanagan as the team's Director of Performance, underscoring the franchise's heightened focus on player health and performance optimization.

While playing in Vegas isn't an option for Parker, the Bucks have indicated that Inglis is expected to be ready -- the first time he's played (sort of) competitive basketball since breaking his foot before last year's draft.