Emeka Okafor injury: Wizards' C out indefinitely with herniated disc in neck

When it rains, it pours. The announcement that Chris Singleton was going to miss 6-8 weeks with a foot injury sucked, but more for Singleton himself than the Wizards.

This announcement is a much bigger deal. Emeka Okafor, the team's starting center and one of the few key rotation players that did not get hurt last season, is out indefinitely with a herniated disc in his neck, the Wizards announced.

What a day.

It's not immediately clear when Okafor might return, but neck injuries are no joke. The injury is to the C4 cervical disc, which often causes pain in the arms and shoulder. My very brief understanding is that surgery is often not required to fix this kind of problem, unless it is severe. Nevertheless, going from recent experience with back/spine issues (I've been dealing with a large herniation in my L5 disc in my lower back since mid-July, though it's improved significantly since), it's really hard to say when Okafor's pain will go away and what his threshold for pain is. It's not easy to properly diagnose a back or spine injury.

Okafor's absence is a big problem because the Wizards don't exactly have a lot of frontcourt depth. Time for Kevin Seraphin and Jan Vesely to step up.

More from Bullets Forever:

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• Examining John Wall's improved jump shot
• How unlucky did the Wizards get with injuries?
• Nene, Emeka Okafor and the offense/defense tradeoff
• Gilbert Arenas Had A Shirt Made Of John McCain Boxing Nick Young