Veteran guard John Wall missed the last four games for Houston with what the Rockets listed as “left knee effusion,” and media reports have indicated that he’s likely to eventually have the knee scoped.
However, the five-time All-Star isn’t willing to go there just yet. In comments at Wednesday’s shootaround, Wall said he expects to play later in the day versus Dallas and is not currently planning a procedure.
“Not right now. If I did, I probably would’ve done it by now,” said Wall, who was asked if he thought a cleanup procedure was needed. “I’m able to still play. That’s not really what was keeping me out [of games].”
Regarding his knee specifically, and the effusion issue, Wall said:
The fluid is just going to be there. I got hit — people saying it’s a non-contact injury — whenever I got hit in that area, there’s inflammation. The training staff created a little pad to put in that area, so [that] when I play, it won’t swell up. It’s the same spot I got hit in 2018, when I had to get a scope to get it cleaned out. But the inflammation has been there.
It’s been there almost since I got hit in the Lakers’ game early in the year. But it’s not really bothering me. I can play through that. It was more so the tightness in my hamstring and my hip contusion that was bothering me.
Wall explained that his recent absences were not solely due to the knee, but also unrelated issues involving his hip and hamstring.
“I’m feeling cool,” Wall said. “It’s been a couple nagging injuries, having a hip contusion. In Minnesota, I fell on my hip and that was sore. We were playing Memphis and I fell. In the first quarter going for a rebound, KJ [Martin] knocked me and I fell right on that same spot and it was hard to run. Then dealing with some tightness in the back of my hamstring area. Dealing with both of those was very difficult.”
For the NBA’s 2020-21 season as a whole, Wall is averaging 20.2 points and 6.8 assists in 31.8 minutes per game. But he clearly struggled since bruising his knee in early March, shooting just 31.5% from the field and 24.4% on 3-pointers over his next seven games before finally shutting things down. Starting Wednesday night versus the Mavericks, Wall will look to put those issues behind him.
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