Grace is a member of 3 Championship winning Wildcats teams and is the teams leader from the point.

Wildcats Sweating on Grace

Posted: Fri Sep 10, 1998 at 10:41AM ET

The Perth Wildcats three time championship winning point guard Ricky Grace is in doubt for the upcoming season after damaging his knee at Wildcats training yesterday. Grace and the Wildcats will learn the extent of the injury within the next 24 hours. Grace underwent exploratory knee surgery earlier today, the Wildcats are hopeful that their star guard only suffered cartilage damage but will not Grace's fate until they speak with the surgeon. With the Summer Season just on four weeks away, the Wildcats would be shattered if Grace's injury is season threatening.

Grace suffered the injury on his trademark move, "I was running and drove to the middle of the keyway to take a shot," he said. "All of a sudden my leg seized up and I experienced great pain. I could not bend my leg and I knew that I had done something serious." Wildcats coach Alan Black understodd that losing Grace, the teams most valuable player for the 1998 season would be a huge blow. "Ricky is an integral part of our team and losing him for any amount of time is going to be tough," Black said. "We are hoping it is something minor and are obviously conscious of the fact that if the injury is serious, Ricky could be a permanent omission in the 1998-99 season." If that does happen the Wildcats will be in a frantic search for a talented young Australian point guard. That species is not too plentiful at this time of year and the Wildcats may very well look to last years back up point guard Greg Smith to be the clubs starting point guard.