Category: Washington Wizards Blog

The Washington Post (Paul Tenorio) reports: One day after having minor arthroscopic surgery to clean out debris in his surgically repaired left knee, Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas posted a 2,210-word blog entry yesterday in which he said he will likely return from the procedure between mid-December and early January — several weeks later than the early December return he originally set Wednesday morning. “I know time frames are dicey, but they said anywhere from mid December to January 1, I’ll be back by then at 100 percent,” Arenas posted in the entry. “I should be, if everything goes well. So that’s the Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanza present I’m hoping for.”

InsideHoops.com editor says: Maybe Gilbert is such a good blogger that people who enjoy reading what he writes are sneaking into his home at night, taking out tiny hammers, and lightly slamming his left knee while he sleeps, softly enough to avoid waking him, yet hard enough to do additional damage over time. Anyway, to repeat myself, the Wizards aready know how to play without Gilbert. Eventually they’re going to forget what it’s like to play with him.

Gilbert Arenas is now probably out until sometime in December, as his knee needed additional work. At this point, Caron Butler and Antawn Jamison are already pretty used to playing without Arenas, so the team should do OK and stay in contention for a playoff spot through November. And, here’s the news:

Washington Wizards President Ernie Grunfeld announced that guard Gilbert Arenas had an arthroscopic lavage (washout) procedure performed on his left knee this morning.  The procedure was performed by Wizards Team Physician Dr. Marc Connell at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington, DC.

“After Gilbert’s normal course of rehabilitation was ramped up, he experienced some swelling and discomfort in his knee,” said Connell.  “A subsequent MRI showed that the knee is structurally sound. The decision was made to perform an arthroscopic lavage procedure, during which a moderate amount of debris was removed after saline solution was washed through the knee.  The presence of debris is common with the nature of his previous injury.  This was a proactive procedure that will enhance his rehabilitation process.”

Arenas will begin rehabilitation immediately, although no timetable has been set for him to return to the court.

“Gilbert worked extremely hard over the summer and we know how much he’s looking forward to returning to help the team” said Grunfeld.  “However, our team has proven its resiliency in dealing with injuries in the past and we’re approaching the start of training camp with confidence that they will once again compete at a high level until Gilbert’s return.”

Arenas played in eight games last season before he underwent surgery in November to repair a partially torn meniscus and articular surface defect in his left knee.  He returned to play in five more games and finished with averages of 19.4 points and 5.1 assists in 13 contests.

The Wizards will hold training camp from September 27-October 3 at the Siegel Center on the campus of Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond.

The Washington Post (Ivan Carter) reports: Gilbert Arenas confirmed that he underwent a surgical procedure this morning that “cleaned out some debris” in his left knee. Arenas, who has undergone two surgeries to repair the left knee in the last two seasons, has been limited during the rehab process all summer and said he has planned all along on not participating in training camp or the preseason. Arenas, who signed a six-year, $111 million contract this summer, said he plans on returning to game action sometime in early December which would mean that he’d miss at least the season’s first month… “I just had some floating debris in there that was slowing me down,” said Arenas, who seemed to be in good spirits. “It was irritating the knee so we decided to go in there and clean it out. This should actually allow me to come back faster.”

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