Chris Broussard of the New York Times reports: Antonio McDyess and the New York Knicks received another setback on Thursday when a CT scan on McDyess's broken left kneecap revealed that he would need bone-graft surgery, which could keep him out for a good portion of the 2003-2004 season.

McDyess, who missed the entire 2002-2003 season after getting injured during the preseason, will undergo the bone-graft surgery on Tuesday at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. It will be his third surgery on his left knee in 18 months.

 "Antonio's fracture is definitely healing, but it's not healing at the pace we had hoped for,'' said team doctor Norman Scott, who operated on McDyess last Oct. 16, said.

 So, what?s the outlook for McDyess?

 If you ask Scott, it sounds good but not great.

 He said McDyess would be able to play sometime this season but also mentioned that the injury was not career-threatening.

 "Surgery next week will expedite this process. We want to get him back as quick as possible. That's why we're performing the surgery at that time. He will be the same spectacular player he always was."

  Knicks? president and general manager Scott Layden downplayed the surgery.

  "This is a small bump in the road," said Layden. "Look, he's going to play next year. Dr. Scott has said that we know he'll be back with the team, and we're going to plan that way. Certainly, you're disappointed whenever you hear this news. But he'll get well and be with us next season. We're going to always try and make this team better, but we're going to make it better with him with us and as a big part of our plans."

  As for McDyess, he couldn?t be reached for comment, but Scott said McDyess was somewhat bewildered because he feels no pain.

  McDyess first injured the knee on March 3, 2001 while he was with Denver.. The scary thing for Knicks fans and McDyess is that Scott said no athlete in McDyess?s situation has overcome what he is facing.

  "This is very rare," Scott said. "Patella fractures from a jumping leg are very rare, and I don't know of any other player that's sustained this just from jumping. So we have to base our experience on the overall treatment and healing rate of patella fractures. Antonio's shown us no reason to think he's not healing. This is just to speed the healing process along."