Dirk Nowitzki suffering from swelling on right knee, hoping to avoid surgery – NBA News
The Dallas Mavericks are keeping their fingers crossed as their difficult offseason continues with the news that their All Star forward and franchise player Dirk Nowitzki is suffering from swelling on his right knee. Nowitzki is
hoping that the knee does not require arthroscopic surgery before the start of the season, which could keep him out from action for a number of weeks.
Nowitzki said that he has decided to reduce his work load to low contact conditioning and will be icing the knee regularly to see if the swelling goes away, before he makes a decision on having knee surgery that will keep him out
of action for three to six weeks. With the season about to commence and the Mavericks already reeling from the effects of a mediocre free agency and off season, the absence of Nowitzki could have devastating consequences for their 2012-2013 campaign.
"I'm doing everything I can not to have surgery. If I want to do it, I would love to do it after the season, but the swelling came back three or four times now. If it's going to keep swelling up on me, that's obviously not a way
to go throughout an 82-game season,” said Nowitzki after practice on Monday which he sat out due to the swelling.
The knee initially started bothering Nowitzki during the team’s trip to Europe, and forced him to sit out of the Mavericks exhibition game against FC Barcelona Regal, a game that the Mavericks lost. He participated in Friday, Saturday
and Sunday’s practice, but was rested for the game against the Houston Rockets after the swelling re-appeared.
"We're going to see if it gets any better these next couple of days before we do another decision. That's really the only update we've got. There's a little swelling in there,” added Nowitzki.
Nowitzki suffered from soreness and swelling on his right knee early last season as well, and could be one of the reasons for a mediocre performance by him in the early part of the season. He missed four games in January to work
on his conditioning, and the swelling on his knee did not return for the entire season after that.
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