Dwight Howard Deals With Possible Knee Injury Again

Dwight Howard Deals With Possible Knee Injury Again:

Following practice on Tuesday it was reported Dwight Howard had re-injured his ankle and was questionable for the Dallas Maverick game last night.

McHale also does not expect Dwight Howard (ankle) to be able to go tonight.

— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 28, 2015

Now we are learning he actually may have re-injured his right knee that kept him out of the line-up for 11 games earlier this year. An MRI was performed which showed swelling on the knee, so the team is looking into doing further tests. What makes this sound more serious than initial reports is the team has announced Howard will not travel with the team for games in Boston and Detroit this weekend.

Dwight Howard underwent an MRI today that revealed edema in his right knee. Howard will be evaluated further in the coming days. — Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) January 29, 2015

Dwight Howard will not be with the Rockets on the back-to-back to Boston and Detroit. — Jonathan Feigen (@Jonathan_Feigen) January 29, 2015

Dwight Howard (knee) out at least two games http://t.co/5tqEmPTWAW — Rotoworld Basketball (@Rotoworld_BK) January 29, 2015

It’s worrisome because I remember that when Russell Westbrook had his second knee surgery last season it was the edema (fluid build-up/swelling) that was the warning sign something was wrong. It might mean Howard may need to have the knee drained or it could be much worse. Obviously more tests will be necessary and there’s no use assuming the worst. The fact the team is rushing to do anything must mean there was nothing they could see in the initial test and in this case no news is good news (meaning nothing was glaringly obvious in the MRI).

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Offsetting this bad news is some good news in that Terrence Jones who has been out since the fourth game of the season returned and looked good in his first outing. At least he provides additional front court help to join Donatas Motiejunas and Josh Smith.

The other somewhat good news is if it turns out to just be an issue of needing rest there are only 7 games remaining until the All-Star break. Four versus Eastern teams and 3 versus the West: Boston Celtics, (the reeling) Detroit Pistons Chicago Bulls, Portland Trailblazers, Milwaukee Bucks, Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Clippers which takes them to February 11th.

Then the All-Star Game/Break occur and they are off until February 20th. So, if he requires a minor procedure or rest he could potentially miss those 7 games and get 22 days off if necessary. Let’s just hope it’s not more critical or require additional time off. Still, it’s better to deal with it now than later in the season.