Greg Oden: Microfracture Surgery Will End Season, Place Career in Jeopardy

Greg Oden just can’t catch a break.

The Portland Trail Blazers center and No. 1 pick in 2007 has endured yet another season-ending knee surgery according to Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports:

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Blazers say injury plagued center Greg Oden miss will season after having microfracture surgery on his left knee today.

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Oden recently underwent surgery on his right knee and was scheduled for the same procedure on the left one. But the damage was worse than expected and now Oden is out for the season yet again.

With the opportunity to play in five seasons, Oden has only appeared in 82 games…the equivalent of one season.

What makes the news even more sobering for Portland fans is the player they could have drafted instead…Kevin Durant. Jeff Passan of Yahoo! Sports has the eye-popping stat:

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Greg Oden has 773 points in 82 career games. Kevin Durant has 8,984 points in 345 career games.

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Oden’s pro career is now in serious jeopardy and you have to wonder if this is it. He has had microfracture surgery on both of his knees, surgery to repair a fractured left kneecap and now two more procedures that happened this month.  If so, Dec. 5^th, 2009 will be the last game he ever plays. He has averaged 9.4 points and 7.3 rebounds in his brief career.

Sure the inability to stay healthy will be his lasting legacy, but let’s not forget that one year of absolute dominance at Ohio State. The Indianapolis native averaged 15.7 points, 9.6 rebounds and 3.3 blocks while shooting 62 percent from the floor. He put the 2006-07 Buckeyes on his back all the way to the national championship game before falling to a veteran Florida squad.

And he was only a freshman.

He had so much promise and it’s hard to fault the Blazers for making the decision they did. At the time, Oden-Durant was the hottest debate around. Hindsight is always 20-20.

If Oden is able to make the long road to recovery, he will be an unrestricted free agent this summer.