Kemba Walker To Undergo Surgery; Tough Blow For Charlotte

Kemba Walker is now the latest Charlotte Hornet to be sidelined with a major injury.

Just as the Hornets were starting to gain some traction in the hunt for the coveted eighth seed in the Eastern Conference — riding the hot streak of none other than Kemba Walker — bad luck struck again, this time in the form of a knee injury to the team’s star point guard.

A torn lateral meniscus in his left knee will cost Walker at least six weeks, and it could put a halt on Charlotte’s advance towards the last playoff spot in the Eastern Conference.

Kemba had been Charlotte’s best player this year, and during the month of January was averaging 23.6 points per game, better than his 18.8 average for the season.

When Al Jefferson and Lance Stephenson were both sitting due to their respective injuries, it was a little Bismack Biyombo and a lot of Kemba Walker that powered the Hornets to a five-game winning streak — by far their best of the season.

More from Hoops Habit

• The 5 most dominant NBA players who never won a championship
• 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
• Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
• Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
• Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout

At 19-26, the Hornets are currently just a half-game ahead of Brooklyn for the eighth spot. Perhaps a bigger threat is the somewhat-surging Detroit Pistons, who saw a miraculous turnaround after waiving Josh Smith.

Incidentally, Brandon Jennings — their own star point guard — has been shouldering a lot of the load during Detroit’s impressive stretch, but is now also set to miss significant time with a torn Achilles tendon.

Charlotte has reportedly been engaged in trade talks with Brooklyn over the last week, trying to find a deal for Joe Johnson (rumored to involve Stephenson, Gerald Henderson, and Marvin Williams), but will now likely be focusing their efforts on finding a replacement at point guard for the next month and a half.

Although Brian Roberts started more than half of last year’s games for the New Orleans Pelicans, he has been rather underwhelming this season, only finding about 18 minutes per game.

According to Yahoo, the Hornets are interested in both Norris Cole and Ramon Sessions as temporary replacements for Walker.

Cole, now in his fourth season, is a very good back up point guard or a poor starting one. He’s a young player with lightning speed and a decent — albeit inconsistent — outside shot. After playing for the trap-steal-score Miami Heat (now sans LeBron James) for his entire career, Cole has become excellent at pushing the pace and scoring in transition.

Charlotte has been employing a transition-centered game for the past month, a big reason behind their success, and Cole could be the right option if Steve Clifford plans on continuing that.

Sessions, on the other hand, is a typical veteran combo guard. He’s played for numerous clubs around the league, and has now accepted his role as an excellent second-unit player. He can struggle defensively, as Charlotte fans know, but he is a good slasher and resembles Walker (offensively speaking) more than Cole does.

He’s been having a pretty awful year, but he was solid for Charlotte, and trading him for Gary Neal (ironically the guy he was traded away for) would be a win-win for both Charlotte and Sacramento.

Kemba Walker’s injury looks like it marks the end for the Charlotte Hornets, but that was said after Al Jefferson went down as well. It’s important to note that Charlotte has won all of their three games without Walker this year —  hopefully a sign that things aren’t going to get significantly worse.

The Hornets now need to stay alive for six weeks without their franchise player. It’s going to be an uphill battle, but crazier things have happened.

Get well soon, Kemba (please).

Next: NBA Power Rankings