Wizards G Arenas out 2-3 months with lateral meniscus tear
WASHINGTON (TICKER) —The news keeping getting worse for the Washington Wizards.
Three-time All-Star guard Gilbert Arenas, who is fourth in the NBA in scoring, has sustained a lateral meniscus tear in his left knee and will be sidelined two to three months.
Arenas suffered the injury in a collision with forward Gerald Wallace in the first quarter of Wednesday’s 108-100 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.
An MRI revealed the tear. Arenas will undergo surgery at Sibley Memorial Hospital in Washington.
The loss of Arenas comes three days after the Wizards announced that All-Star forward Caron Butler will be sidelined six weeks with a broken right hand.
The Wizards (39-35) are on the verge of clinching their third straight playoff berth but have dropped behind the first-place Miami Heat (40-34) in the Southeast Division.
Arenas averaged 28.4 points and 6.0 assists in 74 games this season.
“Gilbert was performing at an elite level,” Wizards president Ernie Grunfeld said. “It’s unfortunate that this injury occurred, but being the competitor that he is, Gilbert will approach his rehab regimen with the same work ethic that has made him one of the league’s most outstanding performers.
“We expect him to make a full recovery, and we know that his teammates will be up to the challenge to respond in his absence.”
But without Arenas and Butler, the Wizards will struggle to win any of their remaining eight regular-season games. They still should qualify for the playoffs in the weak Eastern Conference, but probably will not have much of a chance to advance.
“It is always tough when you lose your best player, and we lost another All-Star in Caron, but it is basketball and no one is feeling sorry for us,” Wizards forward Antawn Jamison said.
Arenas did not start for the first time this season on Wednesday because he was late for the team’s shootaround. Arenas was in the game less than two minutes when the 6-7 Wallace fell into the 6-3 guard while completing an acrobatic reverse layup along the baseline. The contact bent Arenas’ knee awkwardly as he fell to the court.
Antonio Daniels will replace Arenas as the starting point guard. Daniels played 45 minutes in the loss at Charlotte and collected 18 points and 17 assists.
“Antonio played a great game against Charlotte and will start for us,” Wizards coach Eddie Jordan said. “He played a lot of minutes, and so we will activate Donell Taylor. We liked the things he did for us in the middle of the season, and we only scaled his play down in the last 20 games of the season because we thought we would go with our veteran players. He is ready to step in as a backup point guard.”
Arenas, 25, ranked fourth in the NBA scoring race behind Kobe Bryant (31.1), Carmelo Anthony (29.1) and Dwyane Wade (28.8).
Arenas gave the Wizards buzzer-beating wins in four games this season and established a franchise single-game scoring record with 60 points in a December 17 win against the Los Angeles Lakers. He won three Eastern Conference Player of the Week awards and took home Player of the Month honors in December.
Signed by the Wizards in August 2003, Arenas averaged a career-high 29.3 points last season.
