Report: Rasheed Wallace Suffers Foot Injury That Will End Season, Possibly Career

by NESN Staff on Wed, Feb 27, 2013 at 3:13PM

Foot don’t lie.

Rasheed Wallace, who returned to the NBA this season after two years on the sidelines, is done for the season and possibly for his career after suffering a fractured fifth metatarsal in his left foot. The Knicks big man will undergo surgery and need eight weeks to recover, The New York Daily News’ Frank Isola reports, which would place his return sometime around late April at the earliest. That would be sometime around the late first round or early second round of the playoffs.

This could spell the end of the 38-year-old’s career. Wallace, who would yell his trademark “Ball don’t lie!” when an opponent missed a free throw after a dubious shooting foul, has been fairly durable in his career, but he was visibly out of shape for much of the 2009-10 season with the Celtics, and his slowness in returning to the court is believed to be related to concerns about his conditioning.

Wallace appeared in 20 games this season for the Knicks, averaging 7.2 points and 4.2 rebounds in 14.6 minutes per game. He also accumulated four technical fouls. His last game was Dec. 13 against the Lakers, when he scored eight points and committed four fouls in just over 12 minutes of playing time.