K-Mart, Miles Out For Season With Microfracture Surgery
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Kenyon Martin of the Denver Nuggets found out Wednesday that he would miss the rest of the 2006-07 NBA season after undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his right knee. Martin had been rehabbing the knee since having microfracture surgery last year, and doctors were hoping that he would miss only 6-8 weeks following the arthroscopic procedure, initially done simply to "clean out" Martin's knee. However, once the surgeons began the operation, it became clear that the damage to Martin's cartilage was far worse than MRIs had previously indicated, and he will be forced to miss the rest of the season after suiting up for just two games.
The news of Martin's malady comes on the heels of reports that Portland Trail Blazers forward Darius Miles will also miss the 2006-07 season due to microfracture. Like Martin, Miles underwent "routine" arthroscopic surgery this past week, only to have doctors discover that his knee was more damaged than they thought. Microfracture is a potentially career-saving procedure, but it requires months of unbelievably grueling rehab, and even for the most committed patients (which Miles probably won't be, given his spotty history of work ethic) the outcome is anything but guaranteed. Jason Kidd is the only player to come back from microfracture with anything close to 100% recovery, and the juries are still out on Zach Randolph and Amare Stoudemire, but the procedure effectively ended the careers of Penny Hardaway, Allan Houston, Jamal Mashburn, and Terrell Brandon, among others.
Both players are expected to go through rehab and at least try to return to the league next season.
Source
- http://www.nysun.com/article/43730
- http://blazers.blogs.oregonlive.com/default.asp?item=279828
- http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/nba/article/0,2777,DRMN_23922_5146253,00.html
