Jimmy Smith of the New Orleans Times-Picayune reports:
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West said Friday night he plans to have reconstructive surgery to repair the damage as soon as possible, although he’ll remain with the team through the end of this road trip that concludes Sunday night in Staples Center against the Los Angeles Lakers.
“I wasn’t expecting this, but things like this happen,” said West. “It’s part of the game. I just landed the wrong way. I don’t know. In all honesty, I knew something was wrong because of the amount of pain I was in. I didn’t know the severity, obviously, until this morning. I wasn’t expecting ‘ACL’, but I knew there’d be some sort of damage to the knee.
“It’s just a tough time. The last couple of steps to the season … it’s not the time … you just can’t plan on thing like this to happen.”
West said there has been limited swelling in the knee, which will lessen the waiting time necessary for doctors to perform the surgery.
He has not yet decided, he said, which orthopedist will do the procedure, either Hornets team physicians or someone such as noted surgeon Dr. James Andrews.
