Speedy Claxton's second Hawks season is officially over.

His Hawks career could be next.

JENNI GIRTMAN/AJC (ENLARGE)

Guard Speedy Claxton has played just 42 games with the Hawks, where he averaged 5.3 points and 4.4 assists in 25 minutes a night.

Your Turn With Speedy Claxton out of the picture what should the Hawks do?   Acquire another guard.   Didn't Penny Hardaway just get cut?   Get more inside help.   Nothing they do will help. Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

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Claxton said noted sports surgeon Dr. Richard Steadman recommended earlier this week that he have microfracture surgery on his left knee if he wants a chance to continue his NBA career, one that has been derailed the last year and half by recurring issues with his knee.

Claxton, who is in the second year of a four-year, $25 million deal he signed with the Hawks in July 2006, said he is "contemplating his next step" with no timetable set for a decision to either have the surgery or pursue another opinion, or perhaps even consider retirement.

"This is something you have to think through before doing anything one way or the other," Claxton said.

That last option would involve Claxton taking a medical retirement, which would alleviate the salary and salary cap burden for the Hawks.

Insurance would pay 80 percent of the monies owed Claxton while the Hawks would be responsible for the remaining 20 percent. Claxton's salary, second highest on the team at $6 million per season, would come off the Hawks payroll after next season if he were to decide to retire this season.

But Claxton made it clear that he's far from making a final decision. And Hawks general manager Billy Knight said the franchise will not exert any pressure on him to decide, one way or another.

"We're going to do everything we can to help him, whatever he decides to do," Knight said. "It's a situation where he wants to play but he's just not able to do it. We're certainly not going to put him in a situation where we say, 'You have to have the surgery.' We're just not going to do that."

A seven-year veteran, Claxton has already missed 66 games due to injuries since joining the Hawks; his signing was hailed as the answer to the Hawks' point guard woes.

Injuries, though, have kept him from being anything more than the punch line to a bad joke about the Hawks' inadequacies at the position.

Claxton fractured a finger a week before his first training camp and then struggled with a sore back and eventually a knee injury turned out to be a small cartilage tear in his left knee. His season was ultimately cut short to just 42 games, where averaged 5.3 points and 4.4 assists in 25 minutes a night.

He had surgery in June to repair that cartilage tear and appeared to be rounding back into form at the start of training camp, only to have the knee pain flare up again.

Claxton has not played this season — Anthony Johnson, Tyronn Lue and rookie Acie Law IV have logged the minutes at point guard for the 14-12 Hawks — and won't play before the end of the 2007-08 season at the earliest, were he to decide to have the surgery and try to come back.

"He has to process that and decide how he wants to approach it and we'll be supportive of him whichever way he decides to go," Knight said. "We have to make sure he's getting everything he feels he needs. But there's no timetable on him making a decision or us putting a timetable in place.

"You just have to let the process play out, and he has to think about it, talk about it with his family and get other opinions if he wants. And we'll proceed from there."

Steadman, of the renowned Steadman-Hawkins clinic in Vail, Colo., is considered a pioneer in cartilage regeneration surgeries. He has performed numerous surgeries on some of the world's top athletes, including both of Denver Nuggets forward Kenyon Martin's microfracture procedures.

Several high profile players have returned to their All-Star ways after microfracture surgery, most notably Jason Kidd and Amare Stoudemire. Others, like Terrell Brandon and Allan Houston, however, have not.

Martin has started all 22 of the games he's played in this season and is averaging 26 minutes, 10 points and six rebounds.

Claxton would have to endure an intensive, eight-month rehabilitation regimen after the surgery just to put himself in position to attempt a similar comeback from this injury. And that's after spending eight to nine weeks on crutches after the surgical procedure.

"He's had a tough go at it and I feel for him, because I know he's a competitive kid and he wants to play," Hawks coach Mike Woodson said. "I want him to get well and be able to come back and play if he's able to do that, but at this point in time he's got some decisions he has to make.

"And it's not like he's dogged it here. But it's hard to play in this league hurt, and to play at a high level in this league that way ... you just can't do it. I don't care who you are."