Chicago Bulls center Joakim Noah, the newly-minted Defensive Player of the Year, underwent arthroscopic left knee surgery and will be rehabbing the knee for two to three months.
The Bulls, who were eliminated by the Washington Wizards this week, announced the operation on Friday. Noah is coming off his best year with the Bulls, setting career highs in points (12.6), rebounds (11.3) and assists (5.4). With star guard Derrick Rose out of the lineup for most of the year, Noah guided the team to 48 wins during the regular season.
After the season-ending loss to the Wizards on Tuesday night, Noah revealed that he had been slowed down by the left knee injury. He told ESPN: "My knee is bothering me. My left knee. I'm not sure what it is, but I was able to play today. I think I was limited a little bit. But it's no excuses. I'll check it out, find out what's wrong, take care of it. Now we got a lot of time to take care of it."
Noah's injury coupled with the Bulls' inability to generate offense may have been the main reasons why the higher-seeded Bulls surprisingly lost to the Wizards. Head coach Tom Thibodeau said that his center's injury has been lingering for quite some time and that it was noticeable since Noah could hardly jump during the playoffs.
He said via ESPN: "His knee has bothered him for a while. Probably the whole second half of the year. We will have it checked out and see where he is."
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