Eric Bledsoe Injury: Phoenix Suns PG Out For 2015-16 Season

The hits just keep coming for the Phoenix Suns.

In an embarrassing loss to the Philadelphia 76ers Saturday night, point guard Eric Bledsoe went down in the second quarter and watched the play unfold from the other end of the court where he had been playing defense. It seemed like he had just given up on the play and was waiting for the action to come back his way.

But when play stopped, Bledsoe had to be carried to the locker room with what would eventually be revealed as a torn meniscus in his left knee. According to the Suns, Bledsoe underwent successful injury to repair that meniscus…but will miss the remainder of the 2015-16 season.

Bledsoe’s prognosis for a return to full playing status is the start of training camp next year.

This is a major blow for the Suns, who had originally been expecting their starting point guard to return in around six weeks. Bledsoe was averaging a career high 20.4 points, a career high 6.1 assists, 4.0 rebounds and a career high 2.0 steals per game. He was also shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and an efficient 37.2 percent from three-point range.

Bledsoe tore the meniscus in his right knee in 2011. He had surgery to repair it, and then had it removed in 2014 when he tore it again. He missed 10 weeks of the 2013-14 season with the Suns for that surgery.

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At this point, it may be time to change the team’s goal for the 2015-16 season and tank for a top pick in this year’s draft lottery. Since they opted to repair the meniscus (which requires a longer recovery time than removing it), the Suns might be on the same page.

Even in the middle of a 5-16 skid, the Suns are only three games out of a playoff spot in the West. But the loss of Phoenix’s best player hurts, even with Brandon Knight still capable of assuming point guard duties in the backcourt.

But Knight has not proven to be a playmaker of Bledsoe’s caliber, he’s often looked lost on defense and over the last two weeks, he’s shot 39.5 percent from the field and 24.4 percent from three-point range.

In the team’s first game without Bledsoe Monday night, Devin Booker started at shooting guard in Bledsoe’s absence, finishing with 10 points on 5-of-6 shooting. When he filled in for Bledsoe in the second half of the Sixers game, he finished with a career high 19 points on 6-of-11 shooting.

For the self-combusting Suns, Bledsoe’s absence clears the way to a lost season. The team had lost four consecutive home games to teams playing without a top starter before Monday’s heartbreaking — but more competitive — loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Head coach Jeff Hornacek played a few more traditional lineups with Booker at the 2, but the priority now needs to be developing the younger players like Booker, T.J. Warren and Alex Len.

Unfortunately, that may be easier said than done with Hornacek coaching for his job. The Suns have reportedly been reluctant to fire Hornacek, which is why assistant coaches Mike Longabardi and Jerry Sichting were fired in favor of Earl Watson and Nate Bjorkgren to give the team a new look on the sidelines.

That being said, this injury should give Hornacek a little more leeway, even with the team’s rotations in complete shambles.

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With Bledsoe out, assistant coaching changes, a disgruntled Markieff Morris being requested to apologize to his teammates after a towel-throwing incident and the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder on the docket to close out 2015, the new year can’t come soon enough in what looks like another lost season for the Phoenix Suns.