Las Vegas, NV -- Portland Trail Blazer rookie center Greg Oden left Las Vegas late Tuesday afternoon bound for Los Angeles where he’ll be a presenter at the ESPN ESPY Awards Show. Originally Oden had planned to return for the Trail Blazers final two summer league games this weekend, but instead Oden will fly to Portland where he’ll have a tonsillectomy later this week the team announced Tuesday.

“It’s unfortunate,” said Trail Blazers general manager Kevin Pritchard. “He’s shown a lot of toughness because he’s been sick for about two weeks and he’s pushed through it, but it came to the point where we felt like it was the best thing to do is to shut him down and make sure he gets healed, gets a tonsillectomy this weekend and then be prepared as much as he can for the regular season and preseason.”

Oden is scheduled to undergo the tonsillectomy on Saturday. Dr. Don Newell will perform the procedure at The Vancouver Clinic in Vancouver, Wash., and the recovery time is expected to be between two and three weeks.

“Anybody who has as much symptoms and problems as he was having, it was tough for him,” said Pritchard. “He’s a tough kid. He wants to do things the right way and that’s why we love him. He wanted to push through the sickness, but it came to a point where he couldn’t do it anymore.”

Oden will also miss the USA Basketball Men’s Senior National Team training camp, which is being held July 20th-22nd in Las Vegas.

Ironically, Oden is coming off his best performance of summer league in two scrimmage games on Monday against the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers. Between the two 40-minute scrimmages Oden combined for 15 points (4-8 FG), eight rebounds and five blocked shots.

In addition to being sick, the 19-year old Oden, who’s become a bit of a media darling with his quick wit and charming personality, has had an exhausting appearance and interview schedule that started well before June’s NBA Draft.

“He needs some time mentally just to get away from basketball,” added Pritchard. “Sometimes you can get burnout and he’s had some burnout and I think this is a good situation. Get the surgery. Get him healthy. Get him some time off and then he’ll come back the season refreshed.”

Portland lost both scrimmage sessions to the Nuggets and Clippers and is winless in two summer league games.

“I think people are getting really concerned about whether we’re winning or losing or not. This is summer league,” explained Pritchard. “What this is about is to see what players can do in a different system, different structure, and different atmosphere and in a bigger role. Do we want to win? Absolutely. These kids are learning how to play basketball with each other for the first time and this team is going to be together for a long time, so evaluating right now and in the next five years is more important than just saying this is a snapshot or this is where we are today. We’re going to take the long-term approach.”

The Trail Blazers return to summer league action on Wednesday night as they battle the Los Angeles Lakers at UNLV’s Thomas and Mack Center.

NOTES: The Trail Blazers held a light practice session at Cox Pavilion on Tuesday afternoon. Oden did not attend.