Washington Wizards Star John Wall Rumored To Be Having Season-Ending Heel Surgery
The Washington Wizards’ rough season appears to be on track to becoming a lot rougher, as a new report claims All-Star point guard John Wall might be undergoing surgery for bone spurs in his left heel and missing the rest of the 2018-19 NBA season.
In a report published by ESPN on Saturday, Brian Windhorst and Adrian Wojnarowski wrote that Wall will likely be finalizing his plans for the procedure “in the coming days,” per sources familiar with the situation. According to Windhorst and Wojnarowski, Wall decided to undergo surgery after meeting with a specialist on Saturday, more than a year after he had first experienced issues with his left heel.
The ESPN report came hours after Candace Buckner of the Washington Post first tweeted about the potential surgical procedure, noting that Wall might end up missing six to eight months of action. This could effectively take him out for the remainder of the current NBA season, which ends with the Finals in June.
As further noted by ESPN, Wall appears to have been able to “manage the pain” this season, as he is currently averaging 20.7 points and 8.7 assists per game, which included a game against the Lakers on December 16 where he dropped 40 points and dished out 14 assists to help the Wizards to a 128-110 win. However, the publication added that Wall’s struggles were more obvious on other occasions, as he was held down to just one point against the Cleveland Cavaliers on December 8.
Report: John Wall planning to undergo heel surgery that would sideline him for the next six-to-eight months.
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— Ball Don’t Lie (@Balldontlie) December 29, 2018
After a standout freshman season at Kentucky, John Wall was picked first overall by the Washington Wizards in the 2010 NBA draft, and has career averages of 19 points, 4.3 rebounds, 9.2 assists, and 1.7 steals per game, per Basketball-Reference. Though he was named to the last five NBA All-Star Games, Wall has been slowed down by injuries in recent years, as he played in only 41 games in the 2017-18 season due to knee problems, according to a news release on the NBA website.
Meanwhile, the Wizards currently have a 13-23 record and are 11th place out of 15 teams in the Eastern Conference. Aside from Wall, Washington has a number of key contributors dealing with injuries, as noted by NBC Sports, as the Wizards are also playing without frontcourt players Dwight Howard (back surgery), Markieff Morris (neck stiffness), and Otto Porter Jr. (right knee strain). Point guard Tomas Satoransky, who averages 6.1 points, 2.1 rebounds, and 2.9 assists, recently took over as a starter in Wall’s absence and is likely to remain in this role going forward.
