Charlotte Hornets Rumor: Nicolas Batum tears ligament in left elbow, Out 8-12 weeks
It looks like the Charlotte Hornets will be without a key player for a good chunk of time as Nicolas Batum suffered a major elbow injury.
According to Shams Charania of The Vertical, “Nicolas Batum has suffered a torn ligament in his left elbow and will miss 8-12 weeks.” The France international tore the ligament during the Charlotte Hornets‘ second preseason game against the Detroit Pistons. The injury happened in the first minute of the game.
In what looks to be a freak accident, his arm got caught up on a screen. After suffering the elbow injury, Nic was clearly in pain as he headed back to the locker room. He ended up missing the rest of the exhibition game. Batum underwent an MRI on October 5th to diagnose the extent of the injury.
Even though the 28-year will miss a lot of time, it is better than originally expected. It was originally feared that he would miss the entire 2017-18 season with a torn UCL and be forced to undergo Tommy John Surgery. This diagnosis will keep him out until late December or early January.
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Best case scenario, he is back by the start of the new year. Worst case, the rehab process leaks into Febrauary. Still, he should be back before the all-star break and be able to play most of the season.
Nic is the Hornets’ second-highest paid player at $22.4 million this year with only Dwight Howard making more. He is a big part of Steve Clifford’s system and is the team’s secondary ball handler. Last season, he was second on the team in scoring, first in steals, first in assists and fourth in rebounds. This is a big loss for Charlotte as they were looking to have a bounce-back season.
The NBA veteran has played in more than 70 games for seven out of his nine years in the league.
Expect Jeremy Lamb to fill in for Batum as the starting shooting guard as he took Nic’s spot during the Pistons’ game. Rookie, Malik Monk, will be in for a larger role off the bench and either Treveon Graham or Dwayne Bacon will take Lamb’s role in the second unit. These players will need to step up with Nic out.
Next: Malik Monk's true ceiling and pro comparison
It will be interesting to see how much the loss of Nicolas Batum hurts this Charlotte Hornets’ team that had hopes of challenging for a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference. According to Basketball-Reference, estimated that Nic contributed to 4.6 wins last season.