Knee woes keep Josh Howard out of action

Josh Howard was laughing with teammates and seemed to be in good spirits as the Washington Wizards took the American Airlines Center floor for shootaround Monday morning.

Howard, however, will be in uniform tonight to face his former team. He continues to deal with a knee issue that have kept him out of all but eight games this season. Howard tore his ACL shortly after joining the Wizards last season.

The two principles in that seven-player trade last February, Howard and the Mavs' Caron Butler, have both suffered serious knee injuries. Butler ruptured the patellar tendon in his right knee on Jan. 1 and will miss at least the rest of the regular season.

Howard, the aloof 6-foot-7 forward who fell out of favor in Dallas after several odd instances, was a free agent last season and re-signed with the Wizards at a drastically reduced salary. He returned to action this season on Dec. 18, but he aggravated the knee in a game on New Year's Eve, tried to return on Jan. 5, lasted just 12 minutes and has not played since