USA - Team USA's Arenas suffers knee injury

WASHINGTON (NBA) - Team USA's Washington Bullets sharpshooter Gilbert Arenas is facing a spell on the sidelines after picking up an injury in Wednesday's 108-100 loss to the Charlotte Bobcats.

The Wizards' leading scorer suffered a sprained left knee after colliding with Gerald Wallace in the first quarter of the encounter.

Completing a reverse lay-up, Wallace crashed into Arenas near the right block, causing the Washington player's knee to bend awkwardly.

Arenas, who entered the game third in the NBA in scoring with 28.8 points, left the court with a noticeable limp after being helped up. He immediately went to the locker room and is unlikely to return.

An MRI is scheduled for Thursday.

"I do not want to speculate about how long he will be out," Washington coach Eddie Jordan said after the game. "Right now it is a sprained left knee. Tomorrow we will know more after viewing the MRI results."

A three-time All-Star, Arenas had been in the game just two minutes. He did not start for the first time this season after being late for the team's warm-up.

It was the first time that Arenas had failed to score in a game since March 21, 2004 when he went without a point in 22 minutes in a 101-81 loss to Miami in his final season with the Golden State Warriors.

Washington was already without All-Star forward Caron Butler, who broke his right hand against Milwaukee on Sunday when he banged it on the backboard attempting to block a shot.

Butler is sidelined for six weeks.

Arenas was the last cut of Team USA last summer before the FIBA World Championship in Japan. He is a strong candidate to play for the country at the FIBA Americas Championship in Las Vegas this summer.

FIBA