Portland Trail Blazers forward LaMarcus Aldridge underwent surgery Monday morning to repair an injured ligament in his left thumb.
The surgery, which repaired the radial collateral ligament in the left thumb, was performed at the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio by Dr. Thomas J. Graham.
Aldridge will become an unrestricted free agent on July 1. The four-time All-Star is expected to be able to return to basketball activities in approximately eight weeks.
Aldridge originally injured the thumb in a Jan. 19 home game against the Sacramento Kings while trying to strip the ball from Sacramento’s DeMarcus Cousins.
Aldridge and the Blazers initially said that they would elect to have surgery right away and he would be out for 6-8 weeks.
After a pair of Blazers losses immediately following the original diagnosis, Aldridge changed course, electing to play the season out after swelling in the hand went down.
Aldridge averaged 23.6 points and 10.3 rebounds per game on 47 percent shooting after coming back from the injury, leading the Blazers to their first outright division title since the 1998-99 season.
Aldridge also started in the 2015 NBA All-Star game, becoming the first Blazer to start in the All-Star game since Clyde Drexler did it in 1994.
