Jared McCain’s outstanding rookie season came to a brutal end after 23 games.

The Sixers announced Saturday that McCain underwent an MRI that revealed a torn left lateral meniscus. He had reported knee pain following the Sixers’ loss to the Pacers on Friday night. According to the team, McCain will require surgery and will be out indefinitely.

McCain had an obvious injury scare in the third quarter when he fell heavily and hit his head on the ground. He was evaluated for a concussion and was allowed to return to court.

Apparently his torn meniscus means he won’t be able to do anything for quite a while.

Friday the 13th was a pretty terrible day for the Sixers, who opened the season thinking they had what it took to win a championship and are currently 7-16. Joel Embiid suffered a broken sinus during the Indiana game.

After suffering a bruised lung in the preseason, McCain was a major bright spot despite all the injuries and losses. Over a seven-game span in November, he scored at least 20 points in every outing, a 26.1 average and 45.6 percent shooting from three-point range.

McCain leads all rookies with a total of 15.3 points per game. He earned the season’s first Eastern Conference Rookie of the Month award, playing for a 20-year-old guard with great joy, confidence and poise.

“The joy, that’s just me,” McCain said in an interview with NBC Sports Philadelphia last month. “I love to smile. I just love having fun in life. I think if you don’t have fun in life, there’s no reason to do this. If I’m not smiling out there, there’s no reason why I should be out here. I think some people take life a little too seriously sometimes. This is supposed to be the funniest thing ever.

“We only get one chance and I’m just going to have as much fun with it as I can. And since I’ve been playing basketball for so long, I’ve always enjoyed it. I know it’s a serious game. I know we’re obviously trying to win and I’m going to do everything I can to win. And I’m competitive too. But if I don’t enjoy it, then I know I have to step away from basketball.”

McCain, Guerschon Yabusele and Kelly Oubre Jr. were the only Sixers to appear in every game this season.

The only other Sixers guard to play on the bench alongside McCain on Friday was Reggie Jackson, who played five minutes. Kyle Lowry was a late scratch due to back spasms. Eric Gordon was available but did not play for the fifth time in a row. He had a poor start to the season, shooting just 32.5 percent from the floor and 23.8 percent from three-point range. Two-way contract player Jeff Dowtin Jr. is another guard option in an organization that seemed particularly struggling this year.

There’s no doubt the Sixers have seen sunnier days.