Having undergone surgery on Wednesday for the torn meniscus in his left knee, Pacers wing Ben Sheppard is expected to be out for “months” rather than weeks, head coach Rick Carlisle told reporters, including Tony East of Circle City Spin (Twitter link).

As we detailed earlier this week, there are two types of meniscus surgeries — a meniscectomy, which involves removing the meniscus, or a full repair of the tear. A meniscectomy requires a much shorter recovery period, so based on Carlisle’s prior comments about Sheppard missing “weeks,” it sounded like that was the type of procedure he’d undergo. However, as East relays, Sheppard ended up needing a full repair of the meniscus and will face a longer-term absence.

It’s an unfortunate turn of events for the 25-year-old, who is in the final year of his rookie scale contract and is eligible for restricted free agency in 2027. Assuming he finishes the season with the Pacers, the team will have to decide whether or not to tender Sheppard a qualifying offer worth $8MM next summer. That looks far less like a sure thing now that he’s expected to miss a significant chunk of the season.

We have more injury updates from around the NBA:

• After the Lakers ruled out a pair of starters – Luka Doncic (back tightness) and Ziaire Williams (left foot soreness) – for the second game of a back-to-back on Wednesday, head coach JJ Redick suggested that the team was just being “cautious,” per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin (Twitter link). The Lakers, who are in the midst of a stretch of five games in seven days, are hopeful that both players will be back in action on Friday in Golden State, McMenamin adds (via Twitter).
• With the Bulls set to embark on a three-game road trip that begins on Friday in Boston, center Nic Claxton (left hamstring strain) will likely travel with the team, head coach Tiago Splitter said on Thursday, per Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link). That doesn’t necessarily guarantee Claxton will play on the trip, but he has been doing conditioning work during the past week and is getting close to making his season debut, Lorenzi notes.
• Clippers guard Max Strus (right plantar fascia tear), forward Brandon Ingram (right heel surgery), and big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser (right foot surgery) are making progress in their respective recoveries but will remain in Los Angeles for rehab purposes rather than joining the team for its trip to Minnesota on Friday and Golden State on Sunday, tweets sideline reporter Ohm Youngmisuk. However, forward Rui Hachimura, who sat out on Wednesday due to left quad soreness, will be on the road trip, which suggests he could return for one or both games.