By Fitzgerald Cecilio

For the third time since September, the Philadelphia 76ers have delayed the return of prized offseason acquisition Andrew Bynum, who will be out five more weeks because of complications with his right knee.

The Sixers are hoping that Bynum, who underwent a MRI and saw his personal knee specialist in New York last week, will be cleared to perform basketball activities by Dec. 10.

However, Bynum's Sixers debut will not happen until January as he needs an additional one to four weeks of training and conditioning.

"We know the Sixers fans are eager to see Andrew Bynum play and shine," Sixers general manager Tony DiLeo said in a statement.

"We also know no one is more eager to see Andrew play for the Sixers than Andrew himself. He fully realizes the key contribution he can make to the team. Hopefully, that day is coming soon," he added.

Even without Bynum and veteran Jason Richardson, the Sixers are off to a 4-2 start. Richardson, the other player Philadelphia received in the Bynum trade, has missed five games due to an ankle injury.

With the development, the Sixers are in for more criticisms for trading for the 25-year-old Bynum, who already had surgeries on both knees and is in the final year of his contract.

In the offseason, the Sixers traded All-Star Andre Iguodala, young prospects Nikola Vucevic and Moe Harkless and a future first-round pick to acquire Bynum.

Now, the Sixers can only hope that Bynum will play at an All-Star level and prove he was healthy enough to be worth a long-term deal.

Bynum recently received the popular Orthokine blood-spinning treatment in Germany for his ailing knee.

However, the bone bruise has since further complicated matters, causing the team to push the return date from training camp to the regular season and now possibly to midseason.

 

 

Andruw Bynum Sixers Debut Delayed by Five More Weeks