Report: Glen Davis Could Miss Season

Update 9/27: After undergoing surgery on his thumb, Glen Davis will miss six-to-eight weeks.

Injuries, for professional basketball players, are sometimes just an unfortunate part of the business. You can't help it if an injury is sustained in practice, or even during a preseason game, if you're going out and giving maximum effort for the team that pays you millions of dollars to do so.

But what about off the court, when a player isn't doing anything related to basketball? That's when some personal discretion might come into play, and apparently, the Celtics' Glen Davis doesn't have any. Because he reportedly sustained a "non-basketball" injury, which, according to at least one report, just might keep him out for the entire season.

The Boston Herald has some vague details on what caused Davis' thumb injury, the extent of which is unknown:

According to sources, this was a non-basketball injury. It happened Sunday night when he got into an altercation with a friend, a former teammate, who was visiting from Louisiana.

Davis was reportedly defending himself.

David Aldridge, writing for NBA.com, reports the possibility that this could be something that causes Davis to miss significant time.

The Celtics were also waiting on Monday for results of a second opinion on the right thumb injury suffered by backup center Glen Davis, who reportedly suffered the injury in an off-court altercation with a former teammate of his Sunday. "It doesn't look good," said a league source. The Celtics were hopeful that Davis hasn't fractured his thumb; if he did, surgery would be required and Davis would likely miss several months, if not the entire season.

This comes down to a maturity issue with Davis, doesn't it? As a professional athlete, whether he was engaged in some good-natured horsing around with an old friend, or something more serious -- like, maybe, fighting over that all-important last slice of pizza -- Davis shouldn't be involved in anything physical away from the court that could jeopardize his ability to play.

Hopefully for the Celtics, the injury will only keep Davis out for the first part of the season, and it will give the newly-acquired Shelden Williams the opportunity to get some quality, regular season minutes in his new system.

That's the best case scenario. Worst case is, Davis is out for the season, and a team with championship aspirations loses some valuable frontcourt depth, all because of a lack of judgment.

The "Big Baby" nickname seems especially appropriate right about now, doesn't it?