I once had a friend of mine that was a teacher that strategically scheduled a major surgery around their off time during the year. They simply waited until the summer, when school was out of session, to have surgery when they would have time for the recovery.
For Nerlens Noel, a similar situation is taking place.
The Nerlens Noel timeline in Dallas has been repeated a thousand times. Traded for to be the next franchise center, declines a big contract in free agency with Dallas, signs a one-year qualifying offer, benched, and now completely out of the rotation.