Bucks' Redd out for season with injured left knee

MILWAUKEE (AP)

Michael Redd's first season with a surgically repaired left knee ended the same way his previous one did.

Redd tore the ACL and MCL in his left knee for the second time in less than a year on Sunday night in the second quarter of Milwaukee's 95-77 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

An MRI on Monday in Phoenix revealed the injury, which will require surgery. The Bucks guard previously had surgery in March after tearing the same ligaments last January.

Redd was on crutches outside of the Bucks' locker room before Monday night's game against the Phoenix Suns.

``I'm shaken. You never expect it to happen and it happened again,'' he said. ``Today has been a very hard day. But I've had incredible encouragement from my teammates. I'll get through it.''

Redd said he knew something was wrong immediately against the Lakers.

``I cried. I had worked so hard to get back to where I was. It hurts. I'll get back to where I was again. As soon as I tried to explode, I heard a pop,'' he said. ``I was talking to my wife today about this and I said I wouldn't give up. I hurt and I was devastated by it. But my wife encouraged me.''

Redd, a member of the 2008 U.S. Olympic team, will have surgery later this month and begin rehab as soon as possible. He had mostly struggled this season. He had already missed 16 games this year with knee soreness and was averaging just 11.9 points in 18 games, 12 starts.

``We are deeply disappointed for Michael who worked so hard to make it back from this injury,'' general manager John Hammond said. ``Although Michael is out for the season, we still have over half the season to play. That gives all of our players, especially our younger guys, the opportunity to earn more playing time the rest of the season.''

Both Charlie Bell and rookie Brandon Jennings posted messages on their Twitter accounts encouraging their teammate.

``The team will miss u Mike Redd,'' Bell wrote. ``Really unfortunate for a guy who worked so hard to get back healthy.''

The injury casts doubt on his long-term future with the franchise.

The 30-year-old Redd has a player option worth $18.3 million remaining on his $90 million contract signed in 2005, but he will have missed 152 games over the previous four seasons going into 2010-11.

The Bucks also had struggled with Redd on the floor after his previous knee injury, with the offense sputtering in deference to him. Milwaukee was 6-12 this year when Redd played and was 9-7 without him heading into Monday night's game at Phoenix.

Redd was a second-round pick by Milwaukee in 2000 and is the last link to the George Karl-led team that reached the Eastern Conference finals his rookie year.

In three postseason appearances since 2001, Milwaukee has won just four playoff games and failed to reach the second round each time.

Through it all, Redd had been the Bucks' top offensive threat, averaging 20.3 points per game for his career and moving up this season to fourth on the franchise's career scoring list with 11,510 points.