Rashard Lewis plans to avoid knee surgery but could miss remainder of season

Rashard Lewis will leave for New York on Thursday to meet with another specialist and receive a third opinion on the sore right knee that has kept him sidelined for the past five games. After Lewis returned last week from Houston, where he got a second opinion, he determined that he would only have surgery as a final option.

“I’m going to try to avoid the surgery,” said Lewis, who mentioned it as a possibility nearly two weeks ago.

The specialist in New York is expected to review tests from Wizards team doctors and his own doctor in Houston, who advised Lewis to have a platelet rich plasma (PRP) injection to encourage more natural healing in the troublesome quad tendon above his right knee. Lewis has had cortisone shots at different times this season, but “I was still having pain in my knees.”

Lewis said his doctor in Houston “thinks I should try the PRP shot, instead of having the scope. Just because of the fact, I don’t need it. Even though it’s a minor surgery, once you go into the knee, you don’t know how it’s going to be, how it’s going to react.”