Julius Randle’s Godfather says the former Kentucky star does not need foot surgery.
“No, he’s not having no surgery,” Jeff Webster told SNY.tv Thursday by phone. “There ain’t nothing wrong with his foot.
“It’s 100 percent false.”
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports — the most respected NBA writer there is — reported that the 6-foot-9 Randle “likely needs surgery on his right foot after the NBA draft in June, league sources told Yahoo Sports.”
The story added:
The procedure is expected to keep Randle out six to eight weeks this summer, sources said, but there’s a strong expectation within front offices that he’ll be cleared for the start of training camp in the fall.
In this scenario, Randle would miss rookie summer league in July.
The story goes on to detail the foot injury Randle sustained in high school:
As a high school senior in Texas two years ago, Randle missed three months with a fractured right foot. There was a screw placed into his foot that needs to be removed as a precautionary procedure, sources said. Randle hasn’t experienced pain in the foot, nor did he miss any games because of it in an All-America freshman season at Kentucky
On Thursday, Wojnarowski also Tweeted: “Multiple teams considering Randle in and out of draft lottery have his medical info and expect him to have surgery on foot. It is an issue.”
Randle took to Twitter to dispute the story, saying, “I never do this but it was brought to me and it’s crazy how people put stories out there and have no clue what they are talking about.”
Webster, who played at the University of Oklahoma in addition to one season with the NBA’s Washington Bullets, said Randle continues to go through NBA team workouts and that he is fine.
“He’s worked out with Orlando, he’s worked out with Philly, he’s working out with Boston on Friday,” Webster said. “So if he was going to have surgery, I would be the first one to say he’s going to have surgery, but he ain’t having no surgery.”
Randle is projected to go No. 7 to the Los Angeles Lakers by DraftExpress.com.
Several NBA sources said even if he does have surgery, it wouldn’t impact his draft stock dramatically.
“Not because of injury,” one source said. “If he falls he falls because someone moved higher than expected, but the injury itself won’t hurt him.”
A second NBA source said. “I do not know about any pending surgery but each team’s doctors will look at the X-rays and MRIs to determine the extent of the injury to his right foot in which the screw was inserted.”
