Washington Wizards swingman Martell Webster will have season-ending hip surgery Friday,as first reported by Jorge Castillo of the Washington Post. Webster found out in September that he had a partially torn labrum in his right hip, and he decided to try to play through the pain rather than having the surgery. He was not able to play in any preseason or regular-season games for the Wizards.
From the Washington Post:
“We tried everything else and I just wasn’t getting the results that I wanted,” Webster said. “So I wanted to go out and get it taken care of rather than playing this season in some discomfort and then wait until the offseason to get it taken care of and then rehab the whole offseason and then try to find a rhythm come training camp. I’d rather take care of it now.”
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“Hell, no,” Webster said when asked if it could be a career-ending operation. “I hope not. Doc said 85 percent chance [of returning]. I’ll take that.”
For Webster, this is horrible news. He had three back surgeries in four years and he appeared in only 32 games last season. In the summer of 2013, he signed a four-year contract, but the final season was only fully guaranteed if he played in 180 games in the first three seasons. He will not come close to doing that, so he will be a free agent next summer unless Washington decides it wants to pay him $5.8 million in 2016-17.
The Wizards will file for a disabled player exception, according to J. Michael Falgost of CSN Washington. That would allow them to sign another player for about $2.7 million. It’ll be highly unlikely that Washington can find a player as good as a healthy Webster, but we haven’t seen a healthy Webster in quite a while now.
cbssports.com
