Zach LaVine says undergoing surgery was the last thing he wanted to do:

Chicago Bulls guard Zach LaVine was on the team’s bench during their game against the Los Angeles Clippers to support and egg his teammates on in what eventually was a 112-102 defeat—their first on this four-game road trip. LaVine was in high spirits and shared to reporters before the game how getting foot surgery that prematurely ended his season was the last thing he wanted to do.

Didn’t want to undergo surgery

The two-time All-Star had been bothered by foot inflammation all season long. The condition, which LaVine revealed as a non-union Jones fracture, caused him to miss over a month. After returning to play seven games, LaVine suffered an ankle sprain that eventually impacted his foot, leading to the decision to undergo foot surgery.

“It sucked, man. I was pretty much trying to figure out every way not to. You never want to have surgery. But I got to a conclusion, especially with what the doctor was telling me, that the pain level and this thing isn’t going to heal on its own,” LaVine said.

“It’s a bone that was floating around. It’s known as a non-union Jones fracture, which I was dealing with for awhile. And once the doctor---I’m glad I was able to find him---told me you need to get this done sooner than later, it was good to know.”

LaVine revealed that he injured his foot as a youth basketball player. However, it never gave him problems until this season. After trying to see if it would heal through rest, LaVine and his team concluded it would be best to correct the issue via surgery.

However, once he got an outside opinion that said the situation wouldn’t improve merely by rest, he made the difficult choice to end his 10th season.