The Laker doctors lied to Malone and told him he had a sprained knee, instead it was worse. ESPN.com news services Los Angeles Lakers forward Karl Malone, set to return Friday, told ESPN's David Aldridge on Wednesday that the club misdiagnosed his knee injury, costing him a month of the season. Malone has been out since December. But barring any setbacks in practice on Thursday, will return to the lineup for Friday's game against the Timberwolves. Wednesday, Malone told Aldridge that the Lakers diagnosed his knee injury as a sprained knee instead of a torn medial collateral ligament. Because of that misdiagnosis, Malone says, his rehabilitation after the initial injury Dec. 21 made the knee worse instead of better. "For that month [after the initial diagnosis], I trained my a-- off," Malone said. "My training is at another level and I know that. The disappointing thing about it is, I felt like for about a month, I trained for naught. It hurt the situation instead of helped the situation. That is an accurate statement." Malone says that the Lakers' doctors told him after an initial MRI of his right knee that he had suffered a sprained knee and could aggressively rehab his knee without fear of aggravating the injury. A sprain is, technically, a tear, but is usually referred to as a Grade 1 tear. In contrast, the 40-year-old Malone says he actually had a "middle of the road" Grade 3 ligament tear -- the most serious grade of tear. Malone says that the alleged misdiagnosis occurred because the MRI of his knee was taken too high. The top part of the ligament, he says, was not torn. Instead, it was the lower part that was injured. Malone said that he began to suspect something was wrong after three weeks went by following the initial MRI and his knee was still hurting. During a trip to his Arkansas ranch with his brother in January, Malone says, it got worse. "Me and my brother had been out," Malone said. "I had my brace on. We were looking at timber, because we own a timber company. We were walking the line. And I get back and prop my leg up, and I was like, 'this ain't right.' So I called my agent [Dwight Manley] and I said, 'I need an MRI when I get home. Just get me an MRI. Talked to the doctor...who was in Newport Beach [California, where Malone lives during the season]. He said, 'Karl, you've got a torn MCL.' Without [taking] any MRI. He said 'here it is. It's lower.'" Reached by telephone on Wednesday, Manley acknowledged that Malone had a second MRI, and agreed that it revealed a ligament tear. The ligament didn't begin healing because there was fluid in the knee, which had built up because Malone had continued his vigorous exercise program. Manley says he set up a meeting with the Lakers after the second MRI was taken and told them that the Newport Beach orthopedic doctors would now be treating him. Lakers spokesman John Black declined comment when told of Malone's assertions. There were some similarities in the prescribed course of treatment that both sets of doctors gave Malone. Neither, for example, recommended surgery. And Malone's doctors didn't get involved for a month after the initial injury and may have had an easier time making a correct diagnosis. But Malone, who says he has no anger toward the Lakers, still believes the first diagnosis cost him a month of the season. "I was told it was my pain threshold," Malone says. "I was like, 'Bleep that, I know I have a pain threshold.' I'm built like that. After that, it took me about a month and a half to realize I was hurt. Even after when I got the [second] MRI. That's when I said, 'Damn, I am hurt.' And then I went through about two or three weeks ... distraught ain't the right word. I was very disappointed. I went to Arkansas, visited my mom's gravesite, did a lot of stuff like that. Mental stuff. And all of a sudden I started to come around. I had a good day, then I had a couple of bad. Then I had four or five good ones, and one bad. It was slow progress." Malone said he could have played in Wednesday's win in Boston, but wanted to have a day of practice before going back on the floor.
Wow, I feel so sad. Why does this happen to a beloved NBA icon. At least he will retire a Laker, 14-time champion team
Man you guys so are harsh it make me sick......... This is basicly a case of malpractice.......then to top it off, with the pain I'm sure he already was in, they had him continue to train his ass off........only to worsen the pain. Malone may be widely hated, but no human deserves to go through this much pain. And then he was criticized and questioned for missing this much time for a what was then diagnosed as "JUST" being a sprained knee. He's a legend in this game. Can you imagine how much this might have bruised his ego and hurt his feelings.......... And now here you guys are teasing him for it......... C'mon, can we put basketball aside for atleast for a second....... Okay times up!!!!!!! Haha Malone, you sorry ass son of a b****. Finally you got what you so deserved a long time ago. You went through pain.......the same pain you inflected on so many other players with your "dirty" game. (like David Robinson whom you knocked out with one of our famous elbows.......remember that?) Now the tables have turned, your the one in pain. How does it feel? I hope you suffered, dearly and mercifully, through the pain. And hopefully, the same fate will be bestowed upon your partner in crime, John Stockton. For all of Strockton's famous "flops," I hope one day he "flops" and never get back up..............thanks to a painfull back injury he would suffer in the process. And one more thing Malone..........I hope you dont get that championship ring either. You dont deserve it.
This thread made me think. I tried to list all the NBA players whom I'd not feel badly for at all if this had happened to them. Malone and Stockton definitely top the list. Then there's Bowen, Madsen, and pretty much any other dirty scrubs in this league. Surprisingly, Pippen didn't immediately come to mind, maybe because he never did anything that was too bad on the court. Even if he did screw us big time.
Im kind of suprised how harsh you all are. Even though he used to play for a hated team (an still does) the guy is probally, and more than likely is the best PF ever. It amazes me the pain threshold he must have to try to activly rehab a knee with a torn ligament. Seriously, I am a die hard rockets fan and it pains me to stick up for a former Jazz, but any basketball fan should have some respect for Malone.
One thing makes me wonder. How do guys that seem to be rockets fans only since Yao is on the team, show an affinity to hate Malone and Stockton? I can understand the fans that went through all the epic battles and have been there for some years. I can't stand this nodding and hatewagon jumping. It's just fake. These people would say the same about Maxwell, etc. if Yao would play on the Jazz.
Some fans brought by Yao watched NBA before Yao's arrival, and some long time Rockets fans lurking around the board had to register to view the board due to the Yao Mania.
