Report: Seth Curry to Undergo Surgery on Leg Injury, Miss 12-14 Weeks

Dallas Mavericks guard Seth Curry requires season-ending surgery on the left tibia injury he suffered during the preseason, Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN reported on Tuesday. 

According to Wojnarowski, the "recovery process is expected to take 12-14 weeks, and Curry is expected to be fully recovered and on the court by the start of July 1 free agency."

Curry had been hoping to return this season and was treating surgery as a last resort, per Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News, but ultimately opted to address the injury via surgery.

"I think I established myself last year," Curry said last week, per Sefko. "It's a matter of showing I'm healthy, that I'm healthy enough to be back. But I'm not going to play injured or do anything that might cause any setbacks going into the summer.

"I know I could obviously help this team win and also help Dennis' development," he continued. "We had a lot of chemistry we built over the summer and I was excited about playing with him. You never know how it's going to happen going into next year."

It's possible that Curry has played his final game in Dallas, as he's set to hit unrestricted free agency this summer. It will be interesting to see what sort of market develops for the 27-year-old after his breakout season with the Mavericks in 2016-17 that saw him average 12.8 points and 2.7 assists while shooting 42.5 percent from three. 

On the other hand, players like Curry may be disappointed in how their market develops this summer. As Zach Lowe of ESPN wrote on Tuesday, "Only a half-dozen or so teams have real room this summer. A few of those—Atlanta, Phoenix, probably Chicago—seem disinclined to spend it on veterans."

He continued:

"A lot of quality free agents are going to discover their market tops out at the larger midlevel exception reserved for teams over the cap, but under the tax—around $9 million per season. But some teams won't use that, since doing so would take them over (or perilously close to) the tax—and trigger a hard cap right above it.

"That leaves the baby midlevel (about $5 million per year), the biannual exception ($3.3 million-ish), and minimum salaries. Teams are going to get GOOD players at the minimum this summer."

That could leave Dallas among the teams able to offer Curry the most money to return, especially if the Mavericks are unable to land a big fish in free agency, though that may also depend on whether the Mavs are able to move off a few contracts at the trade deadline or this offseason like Wesley Matthews (due $17.8 million next year, per Spotrac.com), Dwight Powell ($9 million next year) or Josh McRoberts ($6 million).

In other words, there are a lot of moving pieces regarding Curry's future in Dallas.