Now in his 11th NBA season, Brian Grant can speak with authority about most every subject in and around the game of basketball. But when it comes to the microfracture surgery that Suns teammate Amaré Stoudemire underwent Tuesday —one that will keep him sidelined a minimum of four months, according to team physician Dr. Tom Carter — Grant is even more of an authority than he wants to be because he’s already been through it.

The outside of Grant’s left knee shows the scar where he had the same surgery immediately following the 1998-99 season. It took him seven months to recover, costing him the entire summer and the first two months of the next season. It also may have set the stage for foot and knee problems that have hampered him to this day.

"When I heard the news (about Stoudemire), I said ‘Wow’ and I looked right down at my own knee,’’ Grant said. "He’s got a tough road ahead of him, but he knows that we’re all behind him, and we’re going to try to hold the fort down until he can get back.’’

Grant said his knee bothered him for the better part of a year, after suffering a stress reaction of the left femur the season before. But Grant was recovering from other injuries — including a torn rotator cuff — and didn’t pay a lot of attention to his knee.

"When I bent my knee a certain way, it was like biting on some aluminum foil, a sharp pain,’’ Grant said. "You just kind of play through it because you think it’s something that’s going to go away. Sometimes it hurts, sometimes it doesn’t. It all depends on how that knee was (rubbing) across.’’

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During a microfracture, holes are drilled into the bone, with blood coming up through the holes to form a kind of substitute cartilage to fill the defect.

"If the (lesion) is a centimeter or more, they’re going to do the microfracture surgery. If it’s at a centimeter, it’s only going to get bigger,’’ Grant said. "The more holes they have to drill into that thing . . . it’s not like going in for a scope (arthroscopic surgery) or a meniscus (tear), it’s not a fun injury.

"But you can come back from it. Amaré did the right thing. He needed to get it checked out, he did, they found out what it was and he’s getting it corrected. And the one thing he has here is an awesome, awesome, training and rehab staff."

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