Washington Wizards All-Star point guard John Wall made his awaited return to the court on Monday night in a 90-88 preseason loss to the New York Knicks for the first time since early April.
Wall underwent surgeries on both knees, one to have calcium deposits removed from his left knee and the other an arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies from his right, spending the summer concentrating on his recovery.
After a five-month layoff, the 6-foot-4 guard was able to fulfill his promise to Wizards faithful and suited up for the third preseason game, netting eight points on 4-of-9 shooting and leading his team in assists with four in 16 minutes of action.
“We had it planned out like after five-on-five and a couple good days of practice,” Wall told Candace Buckner of the Washington Post the morning prior to the game. “I'll play like a couple minutes tonight and see how it goes.”
Wall was a team-high +11 on real plus/minus during his short stint on the court and only played the first half, leading his team to a 53-46 halftime lead.
Head coach Scott Brooks plans to bring him on slowly during the preseason as the knees tend to be quite the tender injury to deal with.
John Wall averaged career-bests across the board with 19.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 10.2 assists, and 1.9 steals in 77 games for the Wizards last season.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2qeb2R-anP0