USA - Trail Blazers Oden likely out for entire 2007-08 season

PORTLAND (NBA) - Greg Oden, the first overall pick in June's draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, will likely miss his entire rookie season after undergoing microfracture knee surgery Thursday.

The 7-foot center was undergoing exploratory surgery in Vancouver when doctors discovered cartilage damage in his right knee.
 
"Greg had an arthroscopy and a microfracture surgery today," said Blazers physician Dr Don Roberts, who performed the surgery.

"He was found to have articular cartilage damage in his right knee. The area of injury was not large and we were able to treat it with microfracture, which stimulates the growth of cartilage."

Despite the surgery, which has been performed on the Phoenix Suns' Amare Stoudemire and Zach Randolph of the New York Knicks in recent years, Roberts remains positive for a quick comeback by the 19-year-old, who was the most hyped newcomer to the league since LeBron James.

"There are things about this that are positive for Greg," Roberts said. "First of all he is young. The area where the damage was is small and the rest of his knee looked normal. All those are good signs for a complete recovery from microfracture surgery."

The knee injury marks the latest in a rash of health issues for Oden in recent years.

Last season, Oden had a late start to his freshman year with Ohio State due to offseason wrist surgery. In July, the center had an abbreviated stay in the NBA Summer League after having his tonsils removed.

Citing two league sources, Yahoo Sports reported earlier Thursday that Oden would miss the entire 2007-08 season.

FIBA