Yet another key contributor on a championship contender goes down due to injury. Fortunately for the Lakers, a torn meniscus isn’t nearly as serious as what happened to Caron Butler last week. He’ll likely miss a month or two. From the LA Times…
“Lakers reserve forward Matt Barnes sustained torn cartilage in his right knee and will miss several weeks after undergoing surgery in the next few days.
The Lakers declined to release a definitive timetable until after the procedure, but the tear was confirmed after Barnes underwent an MRI exam Saturday morning. The injury is similar to the one that sidelined former Lakers guard Jordan Farmar for five weeks during the 2008-09 season.
Barnes was injured while pursuing a rebound in the second quarter of Friday’s game against New Orleans. Barnes was off balance when he landed and said afterward that he feared cartilage damage. He was not available for comment Saturday.”
Link.
He’ll be back for the playoffs, so it’s not a huge problem, but this will hurt the Lakers a bit for the time being. Barnes doesn’t put up huge numbers, but he gets a lot of clean-up buckets around the rim, chases down loose balls to earn extra possessions, plays great defense, and simply brings a lot of toughness to the court. He’s certainly outperformed starting small forward Ron Artest this season, not that that’s saying much. A key member of my favorite NBA team of all time, the 06/07 Golden State Warriors, Matt is an NBA247365.com favorite. I wish him a full and speedy recovery. Speaking of the 06/07 Warriors…
Still gives me chills to this day…
