The Boston Celtics have confirmed that forward Jared Sullinger has been ruled out for the rest of the season due to a metatarsal stress fracture.
The 22-year-old felt discomfort in his side's win over the Atlanta Hawks, and then pulled himself out of their practice session last week due to a recurrence of the problem.
Tests revealed the severity of the injury, and as a result the club have taken the decision to prematurely end his season.
Head coach Brad Stevens said: "It was one of those things where, he said it happened in the Atlanta game, but he couldn't really recall or pinpoint a time of the game.
"But then he just said, as the week went on, he just felt a little bit more discomfort. Then he went through a little bit of practice, and then said it just doesn't feel right.
"So what we sent him home for was not only to get started on whatever he needs to do from a rehab standpoint, but get more imaging and, from what I've been told, the imaging has shown more significant issues than what we originally thought."
Sullinger averaged 14.4 points per game in 51 matches for the Celtics in the 2014 season.
Simon Sinclair
