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SAN ANTONIO, Jan. 4 (UPI) -- San Antonio guard Manu Ginobili will have surgery on his injured left hand and will miss 6-8 weeks of the NBA season, the Spurs said Wednesday. Ginobili, 34, suffered a fractured fifth metacarpal in his left hand Monday in the second quarter of a game the Spurs lost to Minnesota.
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"Manu is pretty important to us and we lost him," San Antonio Coach Greg Popovich said. "We will just have to deal with it."
Popovich announced the decision regarding Ginobili's surgery after Wednesday's practice. The Spurs play Golden State Wednesday night in San Antonio.
Ginobili, who has had several injuries over his 10-season NBA career, was leading San Antonio in points (17.4 per game), steals, field goal percentage and three-point shooting this season. He averaged at least 15 points a game for the last nine seasons.
The Spurs recalled guard Gary Neal from the Austin Toros of the NBA Development League and signed forward Ike Diogu in expectations Ginobili's injury will create an open roster spot.
