INDIANAPOLIS, Oct. 31 -- Indiana Pacers center Rik Smits will undergo surgery to remove bone spurs from his left ankle and will be sidelined for three to four weeks, the club announced Tuesday. A team spokesman said Smits suffered the injury in practice Tuesday, three days before the start of the season.
He will have surgery Wednesday and miss the first month of the season after missing only 23 games in his seven-year career. Smits, 29, who averaged career highs of 18 points and 7.7 rebounds per game last season, was a key ingredient behind the Pacers' march to a second straight berth in the Eastern Conference finals. The 7-foot-4 Dutchhman, who attended Marist College, was selected second overall in the 1988 NBA draft and has spent his entire career with the Pacers. He hit a 14-foot jumper at the buzzer to lift Indiana to a 94-93 victory over the Orlando Magic in Game 4 of last season's conference finals.
