Sparks’ Milton-Jones Sidelined for Season

Spark forward DeLisha Milton-Jones will have surgery on her right knee and miss the rest of the WNBA season and the Olympics in August, team officials said.

Milton-Jones, a member of the 2000 Olympic women’s basketball team who had been chosen for the 2004 team, had an MRI examination Monday that revealed a torn medial meniscus (cartilage) and a sprained medial cruciate ligament in the knee. Milton-Jones also had aggravated an anterior cruciate ligament injury during the first half of the Sparks’ game Friday in San Antonio.

Team physician Stephen Lombardo said that Milton-Jones will have ACL surgery, and the medial meniscus will be reassessed then.

Said Milton-Jones, who had slightly torn the ACL in February during an Olympic workout: “I am disappointed, but at the same time it feels good to know that I will be able to come back new and improved.”

Before the season, Milton-Jones had the ACL repaired non-surgically in Russia by Egyptian therapist Muhammad Khalifa. “I still believe in Mr. Khalifa’s treatment, and if I had to do it all over again, I would do the exact same thing,” Milton-Jones said.

-- Mike Terry