Hayes Has Fractured Kneecap

SEATTLE, Dec. 19 -- Already struggling through a rough stretch, the Washington Wizards received another bad piece of news Monday morning when an MRI exam revealed that third-year guard Jarvis Hayes has suffered a fractured right kneecap.

Hayes will be out indefinitely, the team said. Hayes, who had appeared in the first 21 games with 13 starts, hurt the knee early in the first quarter of Friday night's game against the Lakers in Los Angeles, left the game and did not return.

Hayes flew home to Washington on Saturday morning to be examined by team doctors and tests revealed that he had suffered an injury very similar to the one that forced him to miss the second half of last season and Washington's playoff run. Hayes did not undergo surgery to repair the patella fracture last offseason and is now deciding how to approach the latest setback.

"Right now we're going to take 48 hours or so, get a second opinion and decide what is the best way to handle it," Billy Ceisler, Hayes's agent, said Monday afternoon. "We're going to look at all of the information available to us and decide on what direction we want to take."

Hayes, who was drafted by the Wizards with the 10th overall pick of the 2003 NBA draft from Georgia, has posted career averages of 9.8 points and 3.9 rebounds per game and has been a key element in President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld's efforts to make the Wizards a consistent winner.

In October, the Wizards picked up the fourth-year option on Hayes's original rookie contract, guaranteeing that he would remain in a Washington uniform at least through 2006-07. After an extensive period of rest and rehabilitation during the offseason, Hayes participated in training camp but aggravated the knee during the second preseason game.

Hayes has been Washington's fourth-leading scorer, averaging 9.3 points per game on 42.1 percent shooting. With Hayes out of the lineup, the Wizards will rely more on veteran guards Chucky Atkins and Antonio Daniels. Atkins started in Hayes's place during Sunday night's loss at Portland but that had more to do with Coach Eddie Jordan attempting to match up with Portland's relatively small starting back court of Juan Dixon and Steve Blake.

The player most likely to start in place of Hayes is Daniels, who started eight of the first nine games while Hayes came off the bench.

Atkins is averaging 6.4 points and 2.6 assists per game on 35.9 percent shooting while Daniels is averaging 4.7 points and 2.4 assists per game on 31.9 percent shooting. Daniels has struggled with his shooting all season after posting career highs in shots (633) and scoring (11.2 points per game) with Seattle last season.

The Wizards were 5-3 with Daniels in the starting lineup but Jordan made the change to Hayes because he liked having Hayes's shooting touch and defense to open games. The absence of Hayes, who was averaging 24.6 minutes per game, will also affect Jordan's playing rotation. Jordan had been splitting minutes at guard between Hayes, Gilbert Arenas, Atkins and Daniels.

"We have a lot of veteran players, guys who are used to carrying the load and playing in pressure situations," Jordan said after Hayes went down in Los Angeles. "Guys are going to have to step up and help us win basketball games."