Jeff Green Will Miss Entire Season to Undergo Heart Surgery

Posted by Brian Robb on Dec 17, 2011 2314728 commentshttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F2011%2F12%2F17%2Fjeff-green-will-miss-entire-season-to-undergo-heart-surgery%2FJeff+Green+Will+Miss+Entire+Season+to+Undergo+Heart+Surgery2011-12-17+16%3A53%3A51Brian+Robbhttp%3A%2F%2Fcelticshub.com%2F%3Fp%3D23147

After days of waiting, the Celtics have released an official statement regarding the status of forward Jeff Green moving forward.  Unfortunately, as we anticipated, the news is not good.

Green will miss the entire 2011-12 season, after he undergoes surgery on Monday January 9th at the Cleveland Clinic to repair an aortic aneurysm.

On the good news front, the team also announced that Jeff is expected to recover and should be able to play in the 2012-13 season.

Here’s a statement from Danny Ainge on the situation (via: ESPNBoston)

 “While we are saddened that Jeff will not be able to play this season, the most important thing is his health, and we were fortunate to have access to an amazing team of specialists to evaluate Jeff’s case,” Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said. “The entire Celtics family supports Jeff during this difficult time in his career.”

A few answers to the questions that will inevitably be asked about Green in the days ahead.

1) Will his contract be voided? In all likelihood yes. Even though the team came to terms with Green on a one-year nine million dollar deal, that deal was contigent (as all deals are) on Green passing his physical. The detection of this condition obviously prevented him from doing that, which makes the C’s likely to void the deal, especially since the nine million dollar salary would have counted double since it put the C’s roster payroll well over the 70 million dollar luxury tax.

2) Will the Celtics be able to use some kind of roster/injury exception? In all likelihood, no. Assuming the C’s void the contract, there is no injury exception to be had, since Green would not be a part of the official roster. Obviously they still have the roster spot to play with to sign an additional free agent, but they would only have the minimum’s veteran  to spend on any such player.

3) What happens to Jeff Green? Assuming his contract is voided and he does not sign a deal with anyone else this year, Green would remain as a restricted free agent under Boston’s control for next season.

Much more to come on this situation as it develops, but needless to say our thoughts here at CelticsHub are for a full and speedy recovery for Mr. Green.