HOUSTON -- Dallas Mavericks small forward Chandler Parsons might need microfracture surgery on his right knee, sources told ESPNDallas.com, although there remains a possibility that the cartilage damage could be repaired with arthroscopic surgery.
If microfracture surgery is necessary, Parsons could be sidelined to begin next season.
In that case, Parsons would be expected to need four to six months of rehabilitation before beginning basketball activities and another two months before being game ready.
The final determination on whether Parsons needs microfracture surgery to regenerate the damaged cartilage will not be made until the surgeon performs the initial arthroscopic procedure to assess the damage.
"Whatever it is, I'm going to use it as positive, turn a negative into a positive," Parsons said Tuesday. "I think it will be a blessing in disguise to give me time to reset my body and work on everything from my hips to my back to my ankle to my arch in my foot. When the recovery and the rehab is done, I'll feel like a new player.
Parsons, who the Mavs signed to a three-year, $46 million contract as a restricted free agent last summer, missed the final six games of the regular season due to soreness and swelling in his right knee.
He returned for Game 1 of Dallas' series against the Houston Rockets, playing 37 minutes in the loss to his former team, before it was determined that he needed surgery and must be shut down for the remainder of the season.
Parsons got a third medical opinion on his knee Monday when he visited Chicago Bulls team physician Brian Cole, the section head of the cartilage research and restoration center at Rush University Medical Center.
Parsons also had consultations with Mavs team physician T.O. Souryal and Rockets team physician Walter Lowe.
"I'm going to be very disciplined. I'm going to be the best at this rehab," Parsons said Tuesday. "I'm going to get back to being even better than before."