By Harry Allison
The Wizards star point guard John Wall seems to be snakebitten by injuries.
Already done for this season after one operation, Wall now will miss most — if not all — of next season, too, because he needs surgery on his left Achilles tendon, which he tore in a fall at home.
Wizards team doctor Wiemi Douoguih said today in a conference call with reporters that he discovered the partial rupture of the tendon during a procedure done yesterday to address an infection from the operation on Wall’s left heel on Jan. 8.
The 28-year-old Wall’s Achilles surgery has not been scheduled yet. Douoguih said it probably will be next week.
Wall, whose game is built around his speed and ability to drive to the basket, is expected to be able to return to what the team called “full basketball activities” about a year after that operation. Douoguih estimated the recovery range for Wall’s injury, “at John’s age,” to be from 11 to 15 months.
There is no way to know what sort of player Wall will be when he returns, Douoguih said.
“Unfortunately,” he added, “we don’t have a lot of data on elite NBA point guards with tendon ruptures.”
Douoguih said Wall was not wearing his walking boot — which is OK while at home — when he slipped and tumbled on Jan. 29.
“He never heard a pop,” Douoguih said. “He had a slight increase in discomfort.”
So the Achilles problem wasn’t known until Monday.
Wall, who is making $19.2 million this season, is signed through the 2022-23 season. He will make $38.2 million next season, $41.2 million in 2020-21, $44.3 million in 2021-22 and $47.3 million in 2022-23.
He was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2010 NBA draft out of Kentucky and was an All-Star each of the past five seasons. But a series of injuries will have robbed him of much of what usually are a player’s prime years.
He played in only 41 games last season, when he had an operation on his left knee. Wall also had surgery on both knees in 2016.
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