Luke Jackson has decided to have surgery on his sore back on Thursday at the Cleveland Clinic in order to get his basketball career back on track as quickly as possible.

"I feel like I have a great chance to come back and be 100 percent," he said. "I want to have a long career. The first thing you have to take care of is your body. So I have a pinched nerve in my back and I need to get it taken care of. The disk is pinching the nerve.

"After talking to the doctors, I think this is a good time to do it, and I feel confident I will be healthy. No one wants to have surgery, but I feel confident in the procedure and comfortable that I'll be able to come back."

Jackson's back has been bothering him since this summer, but the pain worsened recently. He originally was placed on the injured list with back spasms on Jan. 5, but he was diagnosed with the herniated disk during the weekend and took several days to decide on a course of action.