John Wall to miss about 8 weeks
WASHINGTON -- Washington Wizards point guard John Wall
called his upcoming absence because of a left knee injury "a minor
setback." Team president Ernie Grunfeld labeled it "a bump in the road."
However
it's described, Wall is expected to miss the first dozen or so games of
the NBA's regular season after the Wizards announced Friday that their
best player -- the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 draft -- was diagnosed
with the early stages of a stress injury to his left knee cap.
The Wizards said the injury does not require surgery. If
his rehab goes as expected, Wall will be sidelined for about two months
in all, including about the first month of the regular season, which
begins Oct. 30 for Washington.
Wall said he "started feeling
discomfort" about a month ago, and he got an MRI exam that Grunfeld said
did not show any sort of problem. But Wall still was bothered by his
knee while working out and went for a second opinion.
He was examined Thursday in New York by orthopedic specialist Dr. David Altchek, and a new MRI revealed the injury.
"Just something that happens when you work out very hard; that's all I can say," Wall said.
"It's very tough for me," Wall added.
He
led the Wizards by averaging 16.3 points and eight assists last season.
He also topped the team with 95 steals and averaged 4.5 rebounds.
The Wizards finished 20-46 during the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season, second worst in the league.
"The
good thing about this is that we caught it when we did. It's not going
to be a best-case scenario, but we also have to look at this in a
positive way. ... My expectations of what John can do this year, it
being his third year, is not going to change. He's just going to start a
little later," Wizards coach Randy Wittman said. "We were lucky that we
came and saw it before there was any type of fracture or anything of
that nature."
The Wizards open training camp Tuesday at George
Mason University in Fairfax, Va. They also expect to be without their
second best player,Nene, for most of training camp. He has a foot injury.
Until Wall can return to action, he said, "I'm going to try to be there and be a coach and a mentor."
But he also pointed out that he wants to "make sure I don't rush back."
Grunfeld, meanwhile, said he will "look around, see who's available" and would consider signing a player to help fill out the roster while Wall is sidelined.
"We
have a deep roster right now, and we have a lot of players at a lot of
different positions," Grunfeld said. "We have players that can pick up
the slack, and it's not going to be up to one player."
And, as Wittman noted: "Obviously, we're going to miss John."
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