Bob Cooney of the Philadelphia Daily News reports that Andrew Bynum has suffered a setback in his rehabilitation from knee surgery that may keep him out longer than anticipated. On Monday, the 76ers announced that they expected Bynum to be cleared to return around December 10th, but it appears that is no longer the case.
In addition to previous issues with his right knee, Bynum now says that his left knee is bothering him as well. Neither he nor the team gave specifics on how far back this development pushes his timetable for return. Sixers GM Tony DiLeo released a statement on this news, which included an indication of what they expect going forward:
He’ll be reevaluated in mid-December, he’ll have another MRI and we’ll see what the progress is. The players have to be confident that they can play. You cannot ask a player to play injured. Whenever he feels confident that he can get out there and he’s healthy and he can help the team, we both want the same goal. We don’t want a player going out there injured and maybe creating more injury or more damage. This is a situation when he feels confident, when the doctors feel confident that everything’s OK, that’s when he’ll be back on the court.
Bynum was acquired this summer as part of the four-team trade that sent Dwight Howard to the Lakers and former Philadelphia forward Andre Iguodala to the Nuggets. He has yet to make his debut in a Sixers uniform.
Regardless of how the Lakers season goes this trade still looks like a stroke of genius on their part even if Dwight walks after this year.
It is utterly horrid being a Philly sports fan right now. Just when you think things can’t get any worse, they always do. Bynum will walk at the end of the season having never played a single game for the Sixers.