The Hawks announced this week that center Tiago Splitter would soon undergo season-ending hip surgery, and on Wednesday, Splitter spoke to the media after practice.
"It's very hard," Splitter said. "I just got here this season, and I wanted to help this team more."
There aren't many positives to losing a rotation player for the season, but one uplifting takeaway is that Splitter hopes to perform better next season after being productive in spite of pain this season.
"I wasn't able to perform 100 percent, that's for sure," Splitter said. "I've been feeling this pain, as you guys know, for some time, and we tried several techniques and treatments.