A career-threatening surgery: The rise and fall of microfracture in the NBA

CHICAGO - It's a blistering Friday afternoon and a shirtless Amar'e Stoudemire is lying face down on the carpeted floor of the downtown Westin's Garfield Park conference room. The six-time NBA All-Star is on his latest tour stop with the BIG3 summer league and is phoning in his lunch order: a medium-well burger with Thousand Island dressing, no mushrooms and no tomatoes for himself and blueberry pancakes for his 5-year-old son.

Stoudemire, who is hoping to make an NBA comeback, pushes himself up off the floor, settles into a leather armchair and launches into how he wound up playing for a fledgling 3-on-3 summer league after a short stint in Israel. Now 35, he wants it known that his body feels better than ever. Even so, he is quick to issue warnings to his fellow players when he is asked about his experience with the once-popular microfracture knee surgery, which has become nearly obsolete in recent years.