When it was suggested a week ago that Jermaine O'Neal might need surgery to repair the never-ending soreness in his left knee, the Celtics' backup center balked at the idea. Surgery was an option, he conceded, but he didn't hide the fact that he wanted to play.
On Wednesday night, he made it official. He's not going under the knife.
O'Neal met Wednesday with Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge, as well as the team's medical staff, and they decided that O'Neal would take the next four weeks off to rehab his knee without surgery. Rather than potentially missing the entire season, O'Neal now plans to return to the C's in February.
While O'Neal didn't speak to the media Wednesday night after the Celtics' win over the Detroit Pistons, Ainge held a postgame news conference to explain the medical situation with his 32-year-old big man.
"The surgery that we were considering was just a cleaning-out," Ainge said. "There was no ligament or cartilage damage that was going to be repaired — it was just a cleaning-out process. We decided against that. We’ll take the next four weeks to do nothing but work to build up his glutes and quads. He'll be rehabbing to build strength in his leg to get ready for the end of the season."
O'Neal's role with the Celtics thus far has been extremely limited. He's only played in 17 of the C's 41 games this season, he's only started five of them, and just once has he played more than 25 minutes in a single game.
But the hope is that after four weeks of rehab, O'Neal will be back with no limit on how much he can contribute.
"I would say the purpose is to get him ready to play in late-season and postseason play with no restrictions," Ainge said. "His first night, there might be [restrictions], but the purpose is to get him back 100 percent."
It's unclear exactly what role O'Neal will play. Long-term, he's one of four centers the Celtics hope to have healthy for the stretch run, but how O'Neal fits in depends on how healthy the other three — Shaquille O'Neal, Kendrick Perkins and Semih Erden — will be the rest of the way.
"We’ve had depth there," Ainge said. "But you know, Shaq’s had some injuries, with Perk we're not certain, and Semih has some injuries. So we’re going to need all of these guys to get through the year and the playoffs."
