It hasn’t been a good 24 hours for the Washington Wizards, they suffered a loss to the Atlanta Hawks last night and then had even more devastating news announced this afternoon.
Point guard John Wall saw his season end in December when the team announced that he would undergo a debridement and a repair of a Haglund’s deformity and a chronic Achilles tendon injury in his left heel. The expected time of recover was approximately six to eight months.
Fast forward to today, Wall will undergo surgery to repair a ruptured left Achilles tendon. The reason being that John had developed an infection in the incision from initial surgery on January 8th and he suffered the rupture after slipping and falling in his home.
The rupture was diagnosed from Wizards Director of Medical Services and Orthopedist Dr. Wiemi Douoguih during a procedure to clean out the infection.
Dr. Douoguih was available on a conference call this afternoon with the local media. Below are a few response to questions from reporters, Cardell took the time to tweet them out and hopefully they can answer questions you may have.
” Injury was discovered yesterday during a procedure.” – Wizards Director of Medical Services and Orthopedist Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
” It wasn’t completely ruptured. But functionally the tendon was compromised greatly.”- Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
“The fall occurred on the 29th.” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
“John checked in and just said he had some discomfort and he had fell in his home.” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih — Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
” He said something along the lines that he went to walk to the shower, he slipped and fell.” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
” Numbers that we give are a range of what it takes. We are saying a year because guys at Johns age, it normally takes around 12 months.”- Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
” We’re going to stick to the original 12 month timeline. When we get closer to that time we will check to see where he is. ” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
” No way to tell to know if he will get back to being 100% John Wall were accustomed to seeing. Unfortunately we dont have a lot of data on point guards suffering and recovering from this type of injury. He’s a unique athlete.” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
“15 months is the higher end of the range of recovery from this injury.” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
“We start therapy 2-3 weeks after the surgery.” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
” John is highly disappointed, he’s a very driven guy. I think he’s under the mindset of moving forward and getting this done.” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
” Its a unusual type of tear. This was not a complete ruptured, its near complete rupture. It’s a little bit unusual.” – Dr. Wiemi Douoguih— Finest Magazine (@FinestMagazine) February 5, 2019
This news is heavy on it’s own, but with the trade deadline looming. The recent statement from owner Ted Leonsis regarding not moving any of their core three in Wall, Beal, and Porter comes to mind. It’s fair to wonder just how much this latest development with Wall impacts that school of thought. As shared above, the recovery can take anywhere from 11 to 15 months and there’s no guarantee the Wall seen pre-injury returns. We’ll see how this plays out, but this latest news certainly makes the looming deadline more interesting. Not to mention what this may mean in two years when Beal’s contract runs up.
