Wilkes Lost for Season --Torn Knee Ligaments

The Lakers lost Jamaal Wilkes for the rest of the season Monday when arthroscopic surgery revealed torn ligaments in his left knee.

Wilkes, 31, an 11-year veteran forward, has a torn medial collateral ligament as well as a partial tear of the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee.

The anterior cruciate is the main stabilizing ligament of the knee. It is also the ligament that Mitch Kupchak tore. That injury kept him out for two years.

A cast has been put on Wilkes’ knee, and Laker doctors have not ruled out the possibility of corrective surgery.

Dr. Stephen Lombardo, the Laker team physician who performed the examination at Centinela Hospital Medical Center, said, however, that Wilkes could possibly begin rehabilitating his knee in three to six weeks without surgery.

“However long it is, it doesn’t look good,” Laker General Manager Jerry West said.

Wilkes, who has never had a knee injury, was averaging 8.1 points in 42 games this season, but had just recently moved into Coach Pat Riley’s regular substitution pattern at small forward.

West said the Lakers, who will put Wilkes on the injured list, are going to wait until Friday or Saturday before determining whom they will add to the roster.

“We’re looking around right now,” he said. “Pat (Riley) and Bill (Sharman) and I will sit down and figure out what’s best.”

West said the Lakers would probably sign another player to a series of 10-day contracts to last the rest of the season.

West also said he plans to ask the NBA to rule on what portion of Wilkes’ contract the Lakers could use to get another player. Wilkes earns $860,000 this season.

“Because of the All-Star game, we’ve got about a week before we have to do anything,” West said. “For right now, I think you’ll see Mike McGee playing a lot of small forward on offense.” The Lakers will play the Houston Rockets at 7 tonight in Houston, then will not play again until next Tuesday night.

Wilkes injured his knee in the first half of Friday night’s victory over New York in the Forum when he fell to the court as the Knicks’ Ernie Grunfeld drove for a layup.

Wilkes’ injury was first described as a sprain. He did not play in the next two games, Saturday night against the Clippers or Sunday night against Indiana. Lombardo examined Wilkes before the Lakers’ game with the Pacers and decided to give him the arthroscopic examination.

Last season, Wilkes was hit with a gastro-intestinal infection in late February and it limited his effectiveness in the playoffs.

Riley said Wilkes was slow in regaining form since the illness and removed Wilkes from the starting lineup after the Lakers got off to a 3-5 start.