Los Angeles Lakers guard Josh Hart underwent a successful ultrasonic debridement procedure on his right knee patellar tendon on March 28, the team officially announced.
He is expected to make a full recovery and return to basketball activities in 12 weeks.
The former No. 30 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft received a PRP injection prior to the 2019 NBA All-Star Weekend, but it did not ‘really work’ for Hart.
While Hart attempted to play through the injury, he has not played in the team’s last four games as the Lakers were officially eliminated from playoff contention.
Coming off 2019 NBA Las Vegas Summer League Most Valuable Player honors, Hart averaged 11.9 points on 40.5 percent shooting from the three-point line in October.
As the 24-year-old was establishing himself as an ideal fit next to LeBron James, he unfortunately could not maintain his three-point shooting.
Amid the knee tendinitis that began in January, Hart only shot 22.7 percent from that range before being shut down for two games prior to the All-Star break.
Although Hart was initially optimistic about the injection, he shared he was meeting with team doctors to evaluate his options recently.
In 67 appearances during the 2018-19 NBA season, Hart averaged 7.8 points on 33.6 percent shooting from the three-point line in 25.6 minutes.
He now joins Brandon Ingram (thoracic outlet decompression surgery) and Lonzo Ball (Grade 3 ankle sprain, bone bruise) as members of the young core who have been shut down for the remainder of the season.