With the recent news that Kemba Walker‘s knee injury may require surgery, hope is fleeting in Charlotte even quicker than it came.
On Saturday night, the Charlotte Hornets bested the New York Knicks in a slug fest that didn’t feature much offense. Despite how ugly it was, the victory, coupled with a loss from the Brooklyn Nets, moved them into the eighth and final playoff spot.
While there’s still a very long way to go in the season, this was exciting news, as things were finally starting to move in the right direction for the unlucky club.
Just a month ago, the Hornets were the 12th seed in the East with both Al Jefferson and Lance Stephenson sidelined for an indefinite amount of time. Were it not for the emergence of Bismack Biyombo and monster performances from Kemba Walker, this season would likely be all but over.
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Now, folks in the Queen City are left wondering if the season is actually over for Walker.
Kemba has missed three of the last five games with what was cited as knee pain from a cyst.
In the beginning, it wasn’t believed to be all that serious considering he’s known about the cyst since high school. However, in his two games back, he was still dealing with the pain and those within the organization decided it would be best to take the route of caution.
After undergoing a magnetic resonance imaging, it was reportedly determined that Kemba Walker will need surgery; a surgery that the Hornets front office is trying to convince him to have right away.
The length of time that Walker would miss, assuming he has the surgery (which is looking likely), could go one of two ways.
If the surgery is just to have the cyst removed, he’s expected to miss roughly six weeks. While that’s not ideal, the Charlotte Hornets could survive that length of time now that Al Jefferson has returned from his injury.
Where things could get messy is if Walker is dealing with a meniscus tear. Inflammation from the meniscus, coupled with the cyst’s presence, is believed to be a possible cause of his knee pain. If that is the case, surgery would likely mean the end of the season for the former UCONN Husky.
If Kemba Walker does miss the remainder of the season, that would be a huge blow to an already struggling offense.
In three games without Kemba Walker this season, the Charlotte Hornets have averaged 87 points per game. If you take out the 105-80 blowout at the hands of the lowly Timberwolves, that number falls to 78.
Walker has been the go-to guy when the Hornets need a basket, evident by his multiple game-winning and game-tying shots. Even beyond the end-of-game shots, when Charlotte has struggled to score (which has been quite often) the team has looked to Walker to drive and get things going again.
Simply put, without Kemba Walker, a stagnant offense becomes even more stagnant.
With Al Jefferson still being worked back into the lineup, it’s hard to tell who will assume the scoring duties for the upcoming games.
It may be a tough pill to swallow, but Charlotte Hornets fans will need to look at the long-term here. Even with Walker, they’re struggling to clinch the eighth seed. With how strong the Atlanta Hawks have been, the final playoff spot may be an automatic sweep. Keeping this in mind, it may be better for Kemba to have the surgery and come back even stronger in the future.
After all, if we’ve only been seeing a semi-healthy Kemba Walker, I’d love to see a fully-healthy version.