While the rest of teammates were in Europe enjoying the culture and battling the New Orleans Hornets in two exhibition games, second-year guard Nick Young was advised by team doctors to stay behind and take care of his ailing knee. 

As you can imagine, this was a difficult task.

“I ain’t never really been hurt before in my career,” Young said.  ”So missing the trip, not being with my teammates and seeing them from here while they were there, was kind of hard.”

Young did not injure his knee during any specific play, but rather his knee had fluid buildup from the wear and tear of rookie season, minicamp, summer league and now the exhibition season.

Young mentioned that this injury may require surgery at season’s end.

“I’m not trying to do that now. It don’t hurt that bad,” he said the Wizards practice Sunday afternoon. “I just had a lot of fluid in there. Its not too serious. They said I could get [the surgery] later on, but not now.”

Although Head Coach Eddie Jordan limited Young’s activity in practice, Young was able to get in some conditioning and participate in some shooting drills.

“I felt alright, I hadn’t shot a ball since the last scrimmage,” Young said, “I was just trying to get out there and get some shots up, get in shape a little bit.”

Despite the limited action in practice, Coach Jordan was still encouraged by what he saw.

“He looked really good in practice today, and we expect him to practice tomorrow (Monday), so we’ll evaluate him then after practice.  Right now its very encouraging to see him back at practice without any mishaps”

Although Young ruled himself out of Wednesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs, he mentioned that he fully expects to play in the Wizards’ final preseason game in Columbus, Ohio against LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.