D'Angelo Russell might have been able to hold off surgery until the offseason, when doctors could have cleaned out his knee without his missing any games.
That would have meant Russell playing through the season at less than 100%, and as he said recently, sometimes your body speaks to you.
"My body told me I really couldn't physically be out there helping the team," he said. "So I think it was the right decision to get it done, and we'll see where it goes."
The decision came with a cost — Russell missed 26 games. But the upside is that he's fully healthy now and getting to play with Karl-Anthony Towns while fully healthy.