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The Washington Wizards announced on Friday afternoon that point guard John Wall is expected to miss approximately eight weeks with the early stages of a stress injury to his left patella.
Wall was examined on Thursday in New York by orthopedic specialist Dr. David Altchek after experiencing discomfort in his left knee. After undergoing an MRI, it was revealed that he had the early stages of a non-traumatic stress fracture.
The injury is a detriment to the Wizards' early season plans. In fact, Washington head coach Randy Wittmann explained from the Verizon Center on Wednesday how pivotal Wall is to the fast-break offense the team is hoping to run this season, via Examiner.com:
"It ain't going to change, we're going to be an up-tempo team. We don't have plotters (slow front court players), so to speak. As long as we have John here we have to take advantage."
Now, however, the Wizards no longer have Wall and will undoubtedly need to make adjustments to all of their schemes.
Wall will be entering his third season with the team and averaged 16.3 points, 8.0 assists and 4.5 rebounds per game last year.