O’Bannon to Be Out Six Weeks

Ed O’Bannon will need at least six weeks of recovery before continuing any basketball activity, said the doctor who performed a two-hour arthroscopic procedure on the Bruin forward’s left knee Tuesday at the UCLA Medical Center.

Gerald Finerman, head of UCLA’s Orthopedic Surgery, said he removed a portion of the tissue that lines the inside of the knee joint in hopes of reducing the swelling that resulted in O’Bannon’s second operation within a year. Finerman said the tissue was inflamed.

O’Bannon, a highly recruited player out of Lakewood Artesia High in 1990, was injured during a pickup game on Oct. 9, 1990. He had surgery nine days later, then sat out last season as a medical redshirt.

Finerman, UCLA’s team physician, said the original graft reconstruction performed last year was intact and that the knee’s joint structure looked sound. He was concerned that the swelling, detected during a routine team physical examination, was the result of complications from the reconstruction.

“I’m very relieved that the surgery went well,” O’Bannon said in a statement. “I’m relieved that I know where I stand.”

Ed O’Bannon Sr. and his wife, Madeline, said they were mostly concerned with their son’s long-term health.

“We don’t care if he misses all four years, we just want him to be all right,” O’Bannon’s father said.

Added Finerman: “We’re not happy about postponing his return, but we’ve got to look out for what is best for Ed over the long haul, not try to get a few games or a season out of him.”