Report: Former Indiana basketball guard Jalen Hood-Schifino recovering from back surgery, will not play in summer league

The NBA Summer League is just around the corner and Indiana basketball is going to have a presence once again. With that said however, there will be one notable absence from the Indiana program that will not be on a roster this summer.

Per a report from ProHoopsWriters Dan Woike, former Indiana basketball guard Jalen Hood-Schifino will not be playing on the Los Angeles Lakers NBA Summer League due to him still recovering from back surgery that he underwent on March 21st earlier this year. The surgery was to repair a bulging disc in his back, a procedure the team called a “lumbar microdiscectomy,” Woike also reported.

This surgery was one of the few nagging injuries that Hood-Schifino suffered during the first season of his NBA career. He only appeared for the Lakers in 21 total games averaging just 1.6 points per game.

Hood-Schifino, however, played 15 games for the South Bay Lakers and averaged 22.0 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 5.5 assists per game. The most exciting part of his performance for Lakers fans was his shooting splits. He shot 47.3% from the field and 43.2% from beyond the arc, both improvements from his percentages with Indiana basketball.

Jalen Hood-Schifino played hard in his limited appearances last season for the Lakers

Oct 9, 2023; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Los Angeles Lakers guard Jalen Hood-Schifino (0) moves the ball against the Brooklyn Nets during the second half at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

“Jalen is really soft spoken,” former Lakers head coach Darvin Ham said about Hood-Schifino last season. “I said kid you are going to be a 15-year point guard in this league with the skillset you have, with the way you are going to get better and how young you are…you gotta start screaming. Scream in the house when you are by yourself, just start screaming and yelling for no reason…you are going to have to be the one to keep you teammates organized and they always gotta understand what we are doing out there.

“He’s a fierce competitor in a silent way. You are not going to be able to do whatever you want with him. He is going to guard the hell out of the ball.”

In his lone season playing for Mike Woodson and Indiana basketball, Hood-Schifino averaged 13.5 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game. He was the first Indiana basketball player to have multiple 30+ point games in his first season since Eric Gordon. His 35 points against Purdue were the second-most points by an Indiana freshman. It was also the first time in the last 25 years for a freshman to score at least 35 points in a road victory over an AP top-5 team.

The Los Angeles Lakers drafted Jalen Hood-Schifino with the No. 17 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He was the first draft pick that came out of the Mike Woodson Indiana program.

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