In a crushing development for the Washington Wizards' push for a high playoff seed, all-star point guard John Wall is expected to miss six to eight weeks and the NBA All-Star Game due to ongoing issues with his left knee.
Wall will undergo an arthroscopic debridement procedure Wednesday to clean up the bothersome area at the Cleveland Clinic Marymount. The surgery will be performed by Dr. Richard D. Parker, the same orthopedic specialist who conducted Wall's double knee surgery in May 2016. Parker is the head physician for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The procedure will force Wall to finally and sufficiently rest his injured knee, which he has played through since the 10th game of the season.
On Nov. 7, Wall collided knee-to-knee with a Dallas Mavericks player but continued to play. In late November, Wall consulted with Parker again and opted to receive platelet-rich plasma and viscosupplementation injections to reduce inflammation. Wall sat out nine games and returned to play at an all-star level — though he still experienced soreness at times because the injections settled the soreness for "a good week or two," Wall previously told The Post.
In the 21 games since returning from the initial fix, Wall averaged 34.2 minutes per game while contributing 18.6 points, 9.3 assists, 1.5 steals and 1.1 assists. Wall's shooting, however, hovered around 40 percent as he would often settle for jump shots since he felt limitations in his left knee.
"It's affecting me now but I still go out there and still have good games," Wall said on Saturday before missing the Wizards' game against the Atlanta Hawks. "But one game you might be feeling great, then the next game you might feel, like, terrible."
The knee cleanup will also force Wall to miss his fifth All-Star Game next month. He was voted into the game as a reserve along with teammate Bradley Beal by NBA coaches last week, giving Washington its first pair of all-stars in the same season in 10 years. Wall decided to have the knee scope immediately and miss the All-Star Game so that he could potentially return in advance of the playoffs, according to a person with direct knowledge of Wall's thinking.
By undergoing the procedure on Wednesday, Wall will miss eight games over the two weeks leading into the all-star break, which will then afford an additional six days off before the Wizards' Feb. 21 matchup with the Cleveland Cavaliers. After the break, the hope is to have Wall back on the court for rehabilitation exercises, the source said.
Even so, the Wizards, currently fifth in the East with a 27-22 record, will face a long road ahead while their franchise player sits for potentially 20-plus games.
According ESPN, the Wizards' remaining schedule has the "highest opponents' win percentage" of any team in the NBA. On Tuesday, Washington begins this Wall-less world by facing the hottest team in the NBA, the Oklahoma City Thunder, which has won eight straight games.
Although the Wizards still have a capable leader in Beal — he anchored the team's offense during the nine games Wall missed in November and December — the team still functions better with both all-stars on the floor. After news of Wall's injury broke, ESPN also noted the depth of Washington's reliance on Wall: When he plays, the team's net efficiency is the equivalent of the Boston Celtics (fourth-best in NBA). Without Wall, Washington would rank 23rd out of 30 teams.
Wall will still attend the All-Star Weekend festivities in Los Angeles, including the team practice on Feb. 17, though he will not compete in the game. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver will name a replacement.
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