By Ivan Carter
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, November 1, 2006; E08
The Washington Wizards' major offseason acquisition, forward Darius Songaila, will undergo surgery to repair a herniated disk in his lower back and will miss at least 10 weeks, the team announced yesterday.
Songaila, who signed a five-year, $23 million contract in July, initially suffered the injury while playing with the Lithuanian national team in a FIBA World Championship tuneup game against the United States on Aug. 13 and continued to play with the injury throughout the tournament.
Songaila missed all of training camp and the eight game preseason while attempting to rehabilitate the back with strength exercises, pool workouts and other treatments. The team administered a shot to his lower back early in the preseason, hoping it would speed up the recovery process. But Songaila has continued to feel pain and discomfort, so the decision was made to perform surgery.
"Darius injured his back in the world championships in August and it got progressively worse," Wizards President of Basketball Operations Ernie Grunfeld said in a statement.
"We tried a number of methods of treatment and rehabilitation, but have been advised by our medical staff that the best course of action at this time is for Darius to have this injury surgically repaired."
Songaila, who played college basketball at Wake Forest, averaged a career-high 9.2 points per game with the Chicago Bulls last season. The Wizards hoped he would give them the kind of versatile big man they have lacked in recent seasons.
Coach Eddie Jordan believes that Songaila's skills are a good fit for his offensive system and has talked about potentially "going small" by playing Songaila at center.
However, those plans will be on hold.
"I am very disappointed that I will not be out there with my new teammates," Songaila said in a statement. "I plan to work hard and look forward to getting back on the court. Unfortunately, surgery is my best option at this time."
