Seattle ? Seattle SuperSonics All-Star guard Ray Allen missed his second consecutive game Friday and is out indefinitely because of inflammation in his left ankle caused by painful bone spurs.

While Seattle prepared for its home game against Minnesota, Allen was in Los Angeles being examined by Dr. Richard Ferkel, a noted specialist on ankle injuries. Allen, who is averaging a career-high 26.4 points in 55 games, said before sitting out Wednesday’s loss to Washington that he was considering season-ending surgery.

Meeting with Ferkel is further evidence that surgery may be imminent.

Ferkel, the director of the sports medicine fellowship program at the Southern California Orthopedic Institute, removed bone spurs from the right ankle of Milwaukee Bucks forward Bobby Simmons in December and then operated on his heel in January. Simmons has been out all season.

The Sonics said they would wait until after Ferkel assesses Allen’s ankle before updating his availability status from day-to-day. Damien Wilkins has been starting in Allen’s pace.

Allen has been bothered by the ankle since early February, but had missed just one game in the last two months – when he sat out against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 1 and finally revealed the injury.

Allen also had an MRI exam on his right knee Tuesday, after feeling discomfort for the last two weeks. He believes that pain was from overcompensating for the pain in his ankle.

Allen was told that structurally, he can’t do any more damage to his ankle, and it’s a matter of dealing with the pain. But the discomfort in his knee was the catalyst for further opinion.