SHAMS: Robert Williams has torn meniscus in left knee (out 4-6 weeks)

[Castle Black]

Damn. Celtics are my 2nd team so this sucks bigly. What a nightmare injury and at the worst time possible. Terrible. The basketball gods are cruel.

[KG Leonard]

My hope for exciting playoffs, Cs going far just died in my heart. After horrible start to season,the great defense and Timelord growth into special defender who anchored the D was the best part of this season as Celtics fan. You expected Tatum to become playmaking scorer like the best Wing superstars.

Hope RW comes back healthy,stronger and not too early.

[celtxman]

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I've had two torn meniscus surgeries and was playing pickup basketball in 2 months the first time and three months the 2nd time with no problems. Both surgeries were 40 minutes long. But I also didn't have the real sharp pain Williams had. So the severity could be more. Through MRI and XRAY they already know the damage so we should know the decision tomorrow. Unfortunately due to how late in the season it is and how athletic he is, it would be a stretch to see him come back this season.

[Creativetran]

Ouch, Celtics potential instantly dropped from finals contender to first round exit (although there was always that potential due to how proficient and talented Kd/Kyrie are alone).

And thats why when your a team near the top you always gotta go for it, never know whats going to happen with injuries

[Yuri Vaultin]

Just brutal. Love watching the kid seeingbthat team gel. Theis and Al will do well, bit still a disappointing blow for sure.

[JayMKE]

Timing absolutely sucks but you don’t want to risk much more serious injury and lose him next season too by rushing him back.

[Feed Your Head]

Yesssss. And a meniscus cleanup is pretty routine, so no reason to expect other than what they’re thinking is. Woj saying it could be even sooner than the timeline, as well.

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[MotownMadness]

Yesssss. And a meniscus cleanup is pretty routine, so no reason to expect other than what they’re thinking is. Woj saying it could be even sooner than the timeline, as well.

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Ive had it done, cant put weight on it for a few days but after 4-6 weeks of physical therapy you're good (honestly probably good after a week or two but no PT is gonna allow that).

I've had everything go wrong between both of my knees, miniscus aint really a big deal. (Obviously theres different grades of tears but still)

[Joshyjess]

Of course, the C's need to actually make it to the second round first! But seriously, this is pretty good news. I just hope they don't rush him, and risk future injury. If it's not 1000% ready, he shouldn't play.

[Triple M]

Of course, the C's need to actually make it to the second round first! But seriously, this is pretty good news. I just hope they don't rush him, and risk future injury. If it's not 1000% ready, he shouldn't play.

Which I think they should. The loss of Williams hurts more against the elite teams.

[srhcan]

Of course, the C's need to actually make it to the second round first! But seriously, this is pretty good news. I just hope they don't rush him, and risk future injury. If it's not 1000% ready, he shouldn't play.

If they stay in top 4 and do not face Nets then they can beat Bulls/Raptors/Cavs/Hawks/Hornets in 1st round.

[Curmudgeon]

Well, the Celtics second string took Toronto to overtime (on the second night of a back-to-back in Toronto) and the Celtics would have won the game except for a missed foul call on Derek White in the last minute of regulation (per the league office). So I expect the Celtics can win a round without the Timelord, even against the Nets.

But they probably can't beat Philly or Milwaukee without him.

[iggymcfrack]

Incredible news! If the Celtics can dodge Brooklyn in the first round, they should be the favorites in the East again IMO!

[FNQ]

Embiid missed less than a week bossman. Just depends on the severity of the tear. Grade one could just be a pain management thing until offseason after a few games missed. More likely is something closer to 4-6 weeks which puts him out for the first round. This isn't some sort of death sentence

Well we both agree it's no death sentence. Definitely never implied that haha.

You're the one thats downplaying this thing with the "not a serious injury" talk.

I mean death sentence as it relates to his season. Meniscus is the least serious knee ligament injury. ACL/MCL/LCL would all be much more severe. WOJ came back on tv saying Rob has the option to have it scoped/trimmed and be back in 4-6 weeks. Steph missed a month a few years ago with a similar issue and Durant missed 6 weeks. I'm not downplaying it i'm just being realistic with the timeline.

It also helps that meniscus isnt a ligament, and a meniscus injury can be anywhere in severity from mild ankle roll (a few days of soreness) to patella tendon rupture (good luck continuing your career, ever).

The timeline is entirely dependent on the detailed diagnosis, not where the injury is. Meniscus injuries can be worse than any of the actual ligament injuries. It can also be better. It depends on what the injury is.. but evaluating it just by the location? That doesnt make sense. If someone has a foot injury, and thats all you hear, what do you think the timeline is? Because a stubbed toe is a foot injury, and so is a Lisfranc injury.

[GSP]

Yesssss. And a meniscus cleanup is pretty routine, so no reason to expect other than what they’re thinking is. Woj saying it could be even sooner than the timeline, as well.

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I dont like the idea of rushing him back even if he feels good to go. Weve seen players who feel fine and come back on the earlier side of the timeline have recurring injuries and long term its not worth it IMO. Specially with Robs injury history it might be best to just shut him down for the season

[Joshyjess]

I know next to nothing about these kind of things, so I was wondering (perhaps someobody with more knowlege / experience might know), will Williams know if he's 100%, or is this something that you think feels good, but could still be a problem down the road? In other words could Williams play, thinking he's perfectly fine, yet not realize that he should have rested it more? Or is this the kind of thing where you can tell just by how it feels whether it is all better or not?

[Curmudgeon]

He may need a complete knee replacement when he's 50, but that's true of quite a few NBA players. See https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33380964/

[Zeno]

Well, the Celtics second string took Toronto to overtime (on the second night of a back-to-back in Toronto) and the Celtics would have won the game except for a missed foul call on Derek White in the last minute of regulation (per the league office). So I expect the Celtics can win a round without the Timelord, even against the Nets.

But they probably can't beat Philly or Milwaukee without him.

Without taking away from a very nice Celtics performance, the 2 minute report has two incorrect non calls that favored the Celtics and 1 favoring the Raptors. So your claim that somehow the Celtics were screwed out of the win based on the call you mention is inaccurate. This in my opinion was pretty representative of the ratio of screwed up calls against each team throughout the game. Regardless, again a very impressive performance from what remained of the Celtics.

[FNQ]

I know next to nothing about these kind of things, so I was wondering (perhaps someobody with more knowlege / experience might know), will Williams know if he's 100%, or is this something that you think feels good, but could still be a problem down the road? In other words could Williams play, thinking he's perfectly fine, yet not realize that he should have rested it more? Or is this the kind of thing where you can tell just by how it feels whether it is all better or not?

Of course. Being "all better" and feeling all better are 2 very different things though. This is always a tough injury to gauge (see James Wiseman) but the fact is, if you trim cartilage, it doesn't make it stronger. So you are definitely more susceptible to the injury going forward, especially if the injury is due to a chronic condition or a repeated movement that caused the injury over time. If it was a blunt force injury, like I suspect it was, he's still a little more at risk for a repeated injury down the line, but not nearly as much as if it was something about his training, exercise, condition, or genetics that caued it.

Its a real tough answer because it can go so many different ways. Its the perfect example of playing it by ear, because the diagnosis itself can not tell you much in terms of recovery time

[MarcusBrody]

Yesssss. And a meniscus cleanup is pretty routine, so no reason to expect other than what they’re thinking is. Woj saying it could be even sooner than the timeline, as well.

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Meniscectomy - which is what he's having if he's going to be back in 4-6 weeks - is routine, but it's also increasingly not thought of as the best option for long term knee health. Repair has a much longer recovery time (and risks reinjury, meniscectomy doesn't as the meniscus at that spot is removed), but it has significantly lower rates of osteoarthritis at the site down the line and a lower incidence of needing joint replacement. Not ever injury is suitable to repair, but more and more are able to be treated. When I had to decide on mine, I was fortunate enough to be able to talk to some top researchers in knee recovery and they thought that repair is now generally worth trying in most cases.

So hopefully the tear is minor (if painful) and he doesn't have to have too much removed. Otherwise, Williams is potentially giving up knee health down the line in order to get back for this year's playoffs. I personally chose the meniscectomy due to life factors, so I certainly understand, but I'm also not an explosive 24 year old pro athlete.

So all the best of luck to him!

Edit: Forgot to add that there are some types of tears (e.g. horizonal cleavage tears) that do seem to have better results (or at least lower complications) with meniscectomies than repair. Most of these are degenerative rather than traumatic - so it's unlikely what Williams suffered, but they can sometimes be caused by trauma too.