Star guard Draelon Burns sustained an eye injury playing pickup basketball in late August in Milwaukee, and his plans to play for the Akita Northern Happinets have been derailed.

The bj-league team announced on Thursday it has voided his contract after an eye doctor in Akita recommended surgery and three months' rest to heal a fractured bone under his right eye. Burns has been bothered by double vision in the eye.

Burns, 28, arrived in Japan late last month, but will rest in the United States to let the eye heal. He departed Japan on Thursday.