Suns’ Mark Williams likely to miss five months after shoulder surgery

The Suns will be without starting center Mark Williams for a while. A fairly long while.

Williams underwent surgery Thursday to repair a torn labrum in his left shoulder and is likely to miss approximately five months, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7.

That timeline would put Williams on track to return sometime in February, assuming his rehabilitation proceeds without setbacks. He suffered the injury during an offseason workout.

It’s another frustrating health issue for the 24-year-old, who has dealt with foot, ankle, thumb and back problems during his young career.

Williams did manage to play a career-high 60 games last season after arriving in Phoenix from Charlotte. He averaged 11.7 points, 8.0 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 23.6 minutes, giving the Suns reason to sign him to a three-year, $38 million contract earlier this summer.

Now they’ll have to wait to receive a return on that investment.

Phoenix figures to lean more heavily on Oso Ighodaro and Khaman Maluach in the middle. Ighodaro appeared in all 82 games last season and provided dependable minutes, while Maluach showed some promise during Summer League after a quiet rookie year.

Both will have larger opportunities. Neither was supposed to be the primary option.

That job belonged to Williams, whose size and rebounding were expected to stabilize the position.

Instead, the Suns may spend most of the season’s first four months piecing together their center rotation and hoping Williams’ recovery finally brings better health with it.