When 7-foot rookie center Curtis Borchardt hurt his foot yet again, the Jazz were hoping for the best.
Instead, they got what basketball operations vice president Kevin O'Connor called "the worst-case scenario."
The Jazz on Saturday revealed results of a bone scan show that Borchardt, who was selected in the first round of last June's NBA Draft before being traded to Utah, has sustained a hairline stress crack in the navicular bone in his right foot.
That's the same bone that has endured two other stress fractures, one that caused him to miss the last 11 games of his freshman season at Stanford, and the other that caused him to miss the final 14 game of his sophomore season.
The latter of those two injuries resulted in a surgical procedure — performed March 6, 2001 — in which two screws were implanted into the foot to help stabilize the bone.
Incurring the same injury yet again, Borchardt admitted, was one of his worst nightmares.
"It's frustrating," he said.
"I've had it before," Borchardt added, "so at least I kind of know what I'm dealing with a little bit. I'm pretty good at rehabbing."
The Jazz originally thought Borchardt's injury was only a hot-spot irritation of soft tissue, with no structural damage involved.
But now, Borchardt — who watched Utah's 64-53 Rocky Mountain Revue summer league loss to Denver on Saturday night while clutching crutches and wearing what trainer Gary Briggs called an "air walking cast" — will be sidelined 4-to-6 weeks while undergoing a conservative course of rest, bone stimulation and non-weight-bearing rehabilitation.
If that doesn't help the bone to heal properly, additional surgery — either to "change the hardware," as Jazz orthopedist Dr. Lyle Mason put it, or to perform a bone graft — would be required.
"I wouldn't rule (surgery) in or out," Mason said. "It's just one of the options we have."
Either way, the Jazz hope to have Borchardt ready for the start of training camp in early October.
The fear then will be additional occurrences, something apparently unpredictable and rather common with this sort of injury.
"With any kind of stress fracture such as Curtis has had, there's some concern," Mason said. "You worry about recurrences."
Mason said the stress fracture was the result of "a cumulative effect of pounding" during a week of summer two-a-day practices, and not only one particular incident.
"The crack goes from one of the screws to the outside," Mason said, adding that the navicular bone runs along the top of the foot, a particularly high arch in Borchardt's case.
He also said this particular bone suffers from "a very poor blood supply" and "a high amount of stress," presumably making it more susceptible to cracking.
Mason reviewed Borchardt's medical records during the NBA's recent pre-draft camp in Chicago, but he said "all the studies there showed that (the bone) was healed."
Still, O'Connor said the Jazz have no regrets over acquiring Borchardt. Now, he suggested, their concerns are primarily for him.
"It's disappointing for us," O'Connor said, "but right now it's a lot more disappointing for him."
On a night when guard DeShawn Stevenson shot just 2-of-14 from the field, Borchardt's foot wasn't the only depressing injury news for the Jazz.
Forward Andrei Kirilenko played only seven minutes before someone stepped on his left heel. He rolled the ankle, and will be out day-to-day pending the results of medical tests.
Big man Jarron Collins played 25 minutes, but did so despite a nagging groin injury.
In Saturday's other Revue games:
PHOENIX 88, MEMPHIS 82: Milt Palacio had a game-high 24 points for Phoenix. Weber State product Eddie Gill scored a team-high 17 for Memphis, which also got 12 from ex-Southern Utah star Fred House. The Grizzlies were without first-round pick Drew Gooden due to knee tendinitis.
TORONTO 91, CLEVELAND 73: DeeAndre Hulett and Darrick Martin had 12 points apiece to lead Toronto, while 2002 first-round draft pick Dajuan Wagner of Cleveland scored a game-high 35.