The unprecedented two year run of injuries continued for the

on Tuesday when it was discovered that starting center

has a partial tear in the meniscus in his left knee, which will require surgery later this week.

“Just stunned,'' coach Nate McMillan said Tuesday night from Sacramento, where the Blazers will play the Kings on Wednesday. "Really, just stunned. I don't know. I don't know.’’

Camby becomes the fifth Trail Blazers player this season to undergo knee surgery, joining Greg Oden, Brandon Roy, Elliot Williams and Jeff Pendergraph.

Last season, the Blazers missed a combined 311 games because of injury, second most in the NBA. Three of those injuries also included knee surgeries, to Oden, Roy and Joel Przybilla.

Camby, 36, injured the knee in the first quarter of

against Minnesota and underwent a magnetic resonance imaging on Tuesday morning.

Initially, the team reported that the MRI was negative.

But team athletic trainer Jay Jensen was apprehensive about the initial diagnosis because team orthopedist, Dr. Don Roberts, had yet to review the film work. Plus, after Tuesday's practice, Camby walked with a pronounced limp and winced noticeably once while walking, as if he stepped on a sharp nail.

Jensen cautioned that the pain Camby was experiencing was not consistent with a negative MRI. He said he wouldn't feel confident that an injury did not occur until Roberts, a noted knee specialist, was able to view the film.

Roberts on Tuesday had a full slate of surgeries and did not get to Camby's film work until after Camby flew to Sacramento on Tuesday afternoon with the team for Wednesday's game against the Kings.

Camby is averaging 5.9 points and leads the team with 11.3 rebounds and 73 blocks. But his value goes beyond his statistics. He is a leader in the locker room and one of the team's smartest and most effective players. He is also one of the team's best passers.

McMillan said he has not been given a timetable for Camby's return and said he had yet to decide who would start in his place. On Monday, he started Dante Cunningham for the second half, and after Tuesday's practice he said he would strongly consider starting Przybilla.

"We talked a little tonight as a staff, and both guys are going to have to play,'' McMillan said. "We are just going to have to see how we are going to use Joel. He can play minutes. He hasn’t experienced any pain since returning and last night played 17 minutes and felt good this morning. I talked to Joel and he was ready to go, he said he would do whatever we needed him to do.''

-- Jason Quick