(The Sports Xchange) - Los Angeles Clippers star forward Blake Griffin will undergo minor surgery on his right knee this week and is expected to be sidelined until at least January, the NBA club said on Monday.
The Clippers said five-times All-Star Griffin would undergo a routine arthroscopic procedure to remove loose bodies from his knee and was expected to miss three to six weeks.
The 27-year-old Griffin has struggled recently with left calf and knee soreness. He played 38 minutes in a 117-110 loss to the Washington Wizards on Sunday, posting 26 points, seven rebounds and seven assists but no points in the fourth quarter.
Griffin sat out a game on Dec. 10 against the New Orleans Pelicans due to right knee soreness, but he scored 20 or more points in the four games since.
The first overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft, Griffin missed his rookie season with an injury to his left knee, having surgery in January 2010.
He missed three months last season after breaking his right hand in a fight in January with the Clippers' former assistant equipment manager.
Griffin played just 35 regular-season games in 2015-16 before re-injuring his left quadriceps tendon in April during the playoffs, forcing him to miss the final two games of the Clippers' first-round series loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Griffin, who can be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season, is averaging 21.2 points, 8.8 rebounds and 4.7 assists in 26 games this season. He has averaged 21.4 points, 9.5 rebounds and 4.1 assists in seven NBA seasons.