Kentucky guard Jaxson Robinson’s season is over. Head coach Mark Pope confirmed that Robinson will undergo wrist surgery, ending the fifth-year forward’s campaign early. Struggling with the injury since early February, Robinson is scheduled to see a world-renowned specialist on Wednesday, with an expected three-month recovery.
“Jax is – we kind of came to the final conclusion last night that he’s going to get surgery,” Pope said after the Auburn game. “So he’s going Wednesday to the world specialist to have surgery on his wrist. He’s got a torn sub-sheath to his ECU tendon. And so what’s happening is, it’s slipping out, and when he went down, we kind of knew that he was going to need surgery, but he just wanted so badly to play that he rehabbed it and had an injection to try and make it functional.”
Robinson initially injured his wrist during practice on February 7—just one day before Kentucky’s game against South Carolina—when he collided with teammate Brandon Garrison. Despite the setback, he played in that contest, only to worsen the injury. After sitting out four games, he attempted a return against Oklahoma but was unable to play in the second half, effectively keeping his wrist on ice.
Pope explained that further medical evaluation left no choice but surgery.
“And then he was doing okay and then he went down the first half at Oklahoma,” Pope said. “So, it’s in a groove, and there’s a sheath around it that holds it in place, and that’s just ripped, just that the distal side of it is just ripped a little bit. And so now it’s coming out of the groove. And after the hit, it actually relocated a little more, and there’s just no way that he’s gonna be able to play.”
Robinson was a crucial contributor for the Wildcats this season, averaging 13.0 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.7 assists per game in 24 appearances. His best outing came on January 11 in Kentucky’s road win over Mississippi State, where he erupted for a season-high 27 points while knocking down seven three-pointers.
Robinson’s journey to Kentucky has been anything but linear. He began his college career at Texas A&M before making stops at Arkansas and BYU, where he spent two seasons under Pope. Last summer, he opted out of the NBA Draft to reunite with Pope at Kentucky.
“So, the good news is that he’ll go have the surgery with literally the world’s number one surgeon doing this particular procedure, and it’s a three-month to 100% full recovery. So he’ll be good to go the first of June, the end of May, and continue on with his great basketball career.”
While Kentucky will have to adjust without one of its key offensive weapons this season, Robinson’s upcoming surgery and projected recovery timeline offer a clear path for him to return to full strength in the future.
