Arenas undergoes surgery, will miss month

Sep 17, 2008 - 6:09 PM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Washington Wizards guard Gilbert Arenas' knee is still bothering him.

Arenas underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee Wednesday morning and will miss the first month of the upcoming regular season.

"After Gilbert's normal course of rehabilitation was ramped up, he experienced some swelling and discomfort in his knee," Wizards physician Dr. Marc Connell said. "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."

Arenas said he expects to return in early December, although the team did not set a timetable.

"I just had some floating debris in there that was slowing me down," Arenas told the Washington Post. "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."

Arenas, who signed a six-year, $111 million deal this summer, already has undergone two operations to repair his left knee in the past two seasons.

The 26-year-old Arenas played in just 13 regular-season games this past campaign and missed the end of the season and the playoffs in 2006-07 after tearing his left meniscus on April 4, 2007.

"(Arenas) had worked extremely hard over the summer and we know how much he's looking forward to returning to help the team," Washington president Ernie Grunfeld said. "However, our team proved 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."