Perth Wildcats coach Trevor Gleeson says Bryce Cotton is no guarantee to play again this NBL season - even if the defending champions make the grand final.
Cotton underwent emergency surgery on Sunday after suffering a haematoma to his left quadriceps.
The star guard has already been ruled out for the rest of the regular season, and Gleeson concedes Cotton is unlikely to be fit for the semi-finals.
Given the unpredictable nature of how long Cotton will take to recover, it's no certainty he will be ready to return even if the Wildcats reach the grand final.
Gleeson says he will pray to the basketball gods for Cotton to recover quickly.
"Bryce hopefully gets out of hospital today and will be in recovery mode for a fair while," Gleeson said on Wednesday.
"We'll keep the door open for him and hope he has a speedy recovery. But we're not planning on him joining us any time soon.
"At this stage we hope he's back. But being realistic, I don't think he'll be back for the first lot of finals.
Gleeson said Cotton and the club didn't initially realise the extent of his injury, which the former NBA guard suffered against Brisbane last Wednesday but didnt' stop him from playing against Cairns two days later.
"He got some symptoms on Saturday. Thankfully he didn't fly to Adelaide with us," Gleeson said.
"It started with cramps and then it escalated from there. We had an ultrasounds, then we had an MRI and we've seen fluid in there.
"He had to rush in and have some emergency surgery before the bleeding got too severe and caused permanent damage.
"The operation was good. It was a little bit more messy than they thought.
"It (his return) really depends on how the body recovers. We don't know until he gets back out of hospital and starts his recovery process. But it's certainly wont' be in the short term."
The second-placed Wildcats are guaranteed to finish in the top two, but Cotton's injury has dealt their championship hopes a huge blow.
"We can't replace Bryce. He is a one in a million. No one person will be able to fill Bryce's shoes," Gleeson said.
"We've got a great team that plays the right way - unselfish.
"It's about how we respond collectively to take up that slack."
The Wildcats will be back in action on Thursday night when they host the fifth-placed Sydney Kings.