Trail Blazers’ Robert Williams to Have Season-Ending Knee Surgery, per Report

The Portland Trail Blazers have lost a key offseason acquisition to a severe knee injury.

Trail Blazers center Robert Williams III will undergo season-ending right knee surgery, according to a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Williams injured his right knee in last Sunday’s 112–100 loss to the Grizzlies. Tests revealed damage to Williams’s kneecap and ligaments that would require surgery. After conferring with Portland’s medical team this week, it was determined that the surgery would end Williams’s season.

This will be the fourth time in Williams’s six NBA seasons that he has played fewer than 35 games. Nagging injuries throughout his career have limited the 26-year-old. Williams has proven to be a strong defensive presence when healthy, as exhibited by his second-team all-defense selection in 2022. 

Williams was traded to Portland as part of the package that sent All-Star guard Jrue Holiday to Boston in the preseason, and was expected to play a key role for the rebuilding Trail Blazers this season.

In six games this season, Williams averaged 6.8 points and 6.3 rebounds in 19.8 minutes per contest.