Lauren Jackson says she's been told a knee injury could have ended her great basketball career if she hadn't undergone surgery.
A day after the operations on her right knee and left Achilles tendon, which ended her Chinese league season prematurely, the 32-year-old Australian centre took to Twitter on Wednesday.
"Everybody, thank you for your support through this time," Jackson wrote.
"I was told last night this knee injury would have been career ending if I had of left it, so I am just lucky that I had the right people and the right advice around me to come home and get it fixed.
"So thank you again for your kind words. It's a tough time."
Jackson faces a 16-week recuperation program after returning from the Chinese league to undergo operations in Melbourne on Monday night, repairing a torn meniscus in her right knee and persistent problem in her left Achilles.
It has thrown her 2014 WNBA season with the Seattle Storm in doubt, with that league tipping off on May 16.
However her manager says she is committed to Australia's gold medal campaign at the world championships in Turkey in September.
