Greg Oden to have surgery, out for the season

The career of Greg Oden takes another hit. It was announced Wednesday evening that the 2006 Indiana Mr. Basketball will have surgery on his left knee Friday and miss the remainder of the NBA season.

The former Lawrence North star has battled with injuries throughout his four year professional career. Take a look at these disturbing numbers.

As shown above, Oden has only played in 82 games in four seasons, missing exactly 75% of games. In his 82 games played (between two seasons), he averaged 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds.

“As you can expect, the young man is devastated by not having the opportunity to play this season. … It’s like ‘Here we go again’ for him,” coach Nate McMillan said Wednesday evening.

The 7-0 center will undergo microfracture surgery and miss his second entire NBA season in his four years with the Portland Trailblazers. A recent MRI showed damaged cartilage to the surface of Greg Oden’s femur. The first draft pick in 2007 missed his entire rookie season with the same injury to his right knee.

Oden had been out since December because he needed surgery to repair a fractured left patella. This injury is unrelated.

The Trailblazers had the challenging decision of who to draft with the top pick in 2007. Do you choose the giant, Greg Oden, who could be the decades next dominant big man, or the athletic, high-scoring Kevin Durant. In this instance, it is evident that the Blazers chose wrong. And Oklahoma City lucked out. The decision had high risk, high reward.

Durant is now the third best player in the NBA behind LeBron James and Kobe Bryant. He is the top-scoring player in the league, 2nd in minutes, and 3rd in free throw percentage.

Oden’s situation is the reason why nobody or no rule should force a player to play college basketball. If these string of injuries would have happened at Ohio State, Oden would probably miss out on his childhood dream of playing in the league. He would not only miss out on his lifelong goal, but also have to work for the the rest of his life.

In his four year’s under contract with the Trailblazers, Greg Oden has made nearly $22 million. Add that to multiple endorsements he signed his rookie year and he should be taken care of for life.

Oden will have microfracture surgery on his left knee Friday–Dr. Richard Steadman will perform the surgery in Vail, Colo.

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Below is Oden’s injury timeline per ESPN.

• Nov. 17, 2010: Microfracture surgery needed on left knee
• Dec. 6, 2009: Surgery to repair left knee
• Dec. 5, 2009: Fractures left patella vs. Rockets
• Feb. 12, 2009: Bone chip in left knee vs. Warriors
• Oct. 28, 2008: Right foot sprain in first NBA game vs. Lakers
• Sept. 13, 2007: Microfracture surgery on his right knee
• July 14, 2007: Has tonsillectomy
• June 16, 2006: Surgery to repair torn ligament in right wrist