Utah Jazz: Marvin Williams to miss six months with surgery

Tyrone Corbin gave Marvin Williams the night off on April 5 in hopes that a game's rest would temper the soreness in his right heel.

Almost two months later, the Jazz are turning to a more serious method.

The team announced Williams, 26, will undergo Achilles surgery on Monday in Charlotte, N.C., and could miss the first month of the season. According to a team release, the expected recovery time is six months.

In his first season with the Jazz, Williams averaged career lows in points (7.2) and rebounds (3.6) while battling a medley of maladies. He missed three games with concussion symptoms, four with right knee inflammation and one with a stomach bug.

Now, it appears a nagging injury that never even kept him out of uniform — he dressed for the April 5 win over New Orleans — was the most serious.

Williams spends his summers in Chapel Hill, N.C., and will be operated on by noted Charlotte foot surgeon Dr. Robert Anderson. According to the Jazz, assistant trainer Brian Zettler will accompany Williams.

Anderson operated on New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter after the perennial All-Star suffered a gruesome ankle injury in last year's American League Championship Series.

According to a New York Daily News article, other Anderson patients have included Chipper Jones, Plaxico Burress and Ahmad Bradshaw.

The Jazz acquired Williams on July 12, 2012, in a deal that shipped point guard Devin Harris to the Hawks. Williams scored 21 points in a season-opening win on Oct. 31 over Dallas, but reached 20 points just once more in the season.

In March, he was replaced in the starting lineup by DeMarre Carroll, and Gordon Hayward finished the season as the starting small forward.

Williams has an early termination clause in his contract and could become a free agent in July. Unless he exercises that clause, Williams will be paid $7.5 million in the final year of his contract.

Williams attended the University of North Carolina and was drafted No. 2 overall in 2005 by the Hawks.

boram@sltrib.com —