Washington Wizards point guard John Wall. (Photo : Getty Images)
Washington Wizards' John Wall was reportedly "in no rush" to return from his knee surgery while team owner Ted Leonsis said that his starting point guard was "ahead of schedule" when it comes to rehabilitation.
The 25-year-old Wall, the first overall pick of the 2010 NBA Draft, underwent surgery on both of his knees last May 5 to repair separate injuries. His right knee had an arthroscopic lavage (washing or cleaning out of loose bodies) while calcific deposits were cut out of his left patella tendon to reduce pain and swelling and to expedite recovery as well.
While recovery from both operations will not take a long time, only about 3-4 months according to some reports, the three-time All-Star is said to be not in a hurry to come back and strut his stuff on the basketball court.
If his healing goes according to plan, Wall should be available as early as August even when training camp is still due one month later. However, he said that he will "take as much time" to completely recover just to be safe.
"I'm in no rush. It's a long summer," Wall told the Washington Post. "Training camp is important to me. Preseason is important, but my health is more important for the regular season, so I'm going to take as much time as I need to."
Wall had been hampered by both of his bad knees in most of last season as the Wizards did not qualify for this year's playoffs, finishing the regular season with a 41-41 slate. It is perhaps the reason why he wanted to be 100 percent fit to start the 2016-2017 season.
His knee problems were actually existing for the past several seasons and team doctors had been adamant for him to undergo the procedure. It was until this year's end-of-season physical exam when Wall finally agreed to proceed with the operation.
"Talking to Dr. (Richard) Parker in Cleveland and going to see Dr. (James) Andrews in Pensacola, they said it's probably best for you to have it," he said.
"I just wanted to feel comfortable. I just wanted to feel like myself. I've been playing with this for the last few years, and it's been worse and worse and just hurting, hurting, hurting. I was like it's time for me just to want to come back healthy," Wall ended.
Meanwhile, Leonsis confirmed that Wall was "ahead of schedule" when it comes to his recovery. The Wizards owner noted that Wall "feels great" and no longer in pain from the surgery and is "working exactly on the plan they put forth for him for rehab," as per CSN Mid-Atlantic.
