Gilbert Arenas, who tops the Washington Wizards in scoring, will be sidelined three months following successful knee surgery.
Arenas, 25, had been experiencing soreness and swelling in his left knee, which was surgically repaired April 5 and had fluid drained from it on Nov. 7.
Gilbert Arenas is out three months following surgery on his left knee.
(Mark Avery/Associated Press)
Claiming his knee felt "like a five-pound weight is on it," he had an MRI on Wednesday morning and underwent surgery later in the afternoon.
"Everything just started hurting, the pain came out of nowhere," Arenas told the Washington Post.
"It is a downer because I really thought I was getting back. It is a big setback."
"That is the business, man," Wizards centre Brendan Haywood said. "Life is not always fair.
"He is out right now and everybody is down about it. All we can do is pray for him and hope he has a speedy recovery."
The Wizards are riding a five-game winning streak, including victories over the Portland Trail Blazers and Philadelphia 76ers with Arenas out of the lineup.
"It was not like it was the Dallas Mavericks and the San Antonio Spurs," Haywood cautioned. "Playing without Gilbert is going to hurt this team."
Arenas is averaging 22.4 points, 5.9 assists, 4.4 rebounds, 2.1 steals and 39.5 minutes through eight starts this season, his fifth with Washington.
The three-time all-star has averaged 22.9 points, 5.5 assists, 4.2 assists, 1.8 steals and 37.6 minutes in 426 NBA games (405 starts) since being drafted in the second round (31st overall) by the Golden State Warriors in 2001.
Arenas joined the Wizards as a free agent on Aug. 8, 2003.
With files from the Associated PressRelated
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