Robert Covington underwent surgery to repair extensor tendon

According to a statement from the Sixers’ Vice President of Athlete Care, Dr. Daniel Medina, Robert Covington underwent a successful surgery today, May 17th 2018, to repair a tendon in his left middle finger.

The full statement from Dr. Medina:

Robert Covington today underwent successful surgery to repair the extensor tendon in his left middle finger. He first suffered the injury on Dec. 28 at Portland. The procedure was performed by Asif M. Ilyas, M.D., a Rothman Institute hand surgeon and Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at Thomas Jefferson University.

Covington is allowed use of the hand immediately and will wear a splint on the finger while recovering. He will be reevaluated in approximately two to three weeks to assess his readiness to resume basketball activities.

We saw Covington go through some struggles toward the end of the season and in the playoffs, and wondered what could possibly be causing the funk. Some offered up the theory that he may be injured, and pointed to the back injury Covington suffered against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 9th, 2017.

Well according to Dr. Medina, Covington has been suffering from not the back injury, but an injury to the middle finger on his left hand since December 28th. Given that Covington is a right-handed shooter, and that the team allowed him to play through this finger injury, I’m not sure how much Covington’s play was actually suffering from the injured extensor tendon. Still, it’s possible that even a little discomfort in his left hand was throwing him off of his game. No way of knowing for sure.

The good news is that this seems like it will soon be a thing of the past. Judging from an except of the statement that reads, “Covington is allowed use of the hand immediately and will wear a splint on the finger while recovering. He will be reevaluated in approximately two to three weeks to assess his readiness to resume basketball activities,” I would assume this was a relatively minor injury, surgery and recovery.

Dr. Asif M. Ilyas is an orthopedic surgeon “with a certificate of added qualification in hand surgery” according to his bio. I’ve done just a bit of research on Dr. Ilyas, and from that research he seems to be a highly successful and widely respected doctor and surgeon. Cov’s hand is in good hands.