The Wizards will be without Caron Butler for a while with a labral tear in his left hip. Butler has played in 43 games (all starts) for the Wizards this season and he is averaging 40.2 minutes, 21.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 2.4 steals per game. The Wizards will miss Butler big-time as they are struggling to hold onto the playoff spot that they are sitting in right now.

The Wizards will be without Gilbert Arenas for the next three months after he had surgery on his left knee. Arenas has played in 8 games this season (all starts) and he has averaged 39.5 minutes, 22.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, 5.9 assists and 2.1 steals per game. Antonio Daniels will take over as the starting point guard for the Wizards and he has played in 10 games (2 starts) this season and he has averaged 22.5 minutes, 5.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game.

Etan Thomas has recently had a physical that revealed a heart condition that could be career threatening.  Thomas played in 65 games (32 starts) last season for the Wizards and he averaged 19.2 minutes, 6.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.4 steals per game.  Thomas has now played in 347 games (66 starts) in his NBA career and he has averaged 18.4 minutes, 6.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 1.1 blocks per game.  If the Wizards are without Thomas this season it will hurt them because he does his damage without the ball with his defense and rebounding.

Gilbert Arenas will miss 2-3 months after having left knee surgery earlier today.  He could possibly return if the Wizards make the NBA Finals, but that isn’t going to happen without Arenas and Butler.  Arenas played in 74 games this season and he averaged 39.8 minutes, 28.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 6.0 assists and 1.9 steals per game.  He also made 205 three-pointers and that will be missed. 

Caron Butler broke his right hand yesterday and will likely miss the remainder of the season.  If the Wizards make it past the second round of the playoffs their is a possibility that Butler could return, but it’s not likely.  He played in 63 games this season and he averaged 39.3 minutes, 19.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 2.1 steals.  The Wizards will need DeShawn Stevenson to step up his game to help out the offense or the Wizards are in deep trouble.