Donatas Motiejunas had a breakout season last year for the Houston Rockets, which is a big reason they had as much success as they did. Motiejunas was unable to play in the playoffs after suffering a back injury, but the Rockets are expecting him back for training camp. Motiejunas, though, is reportedly not so sure if he will be back for training camp as he was non-committal when asked if he would be cleared, according to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle.
Motiejunas had back surgery back in April and at the time was given a two to three month timetable to return. It has now been about five months since the surgery so his recovery has obviously been very slow. Motiejunas reportedly said he has no specific timetable for when he might be cleared to play but that he is "week-to-week."
Terrence Jones went into last season as the Rockets starter at power forward but was injured early on which gave the starting spot to Motiejunas, which he ran away with until he hurt his back. Jones came back for the playoffs and played pretty well, so he will likely get his starting spot back if Motiejunas isn't healthy to start the year. The problem for the Rockets is depth as last year they had Josh Smith as a backup when one of these guys went down, this year they don't have that luxury, so they need both players healthy.
Motiejunas is a 7-foot center from Lithuania who had a tremendous season for the Rockets in 2014-15. The 24-year-old averaged 12 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game (all career highs) and shot 50 percent from the field and 37 percent from three point range (both career highs.)
The fact that Motiejunas' back injury is taking way longer than expected to heal has to be concerning for the Rockets. It is possible that he is just being cautious with the injury, but the Rockets have found themselves a very good young player here, and if this back issue lingers it could hurt their chances at an NBA Championship and even worse jeopardize his future.
Motiejunas still has a little bit less than a month to get ready for training camp and more than a month until the season starts, so there's plenty of time, but this situation is definitely worth monitoring.
