Hornets' Forward To Have Surgery, Will Miss Extended Time

The injury troubles just keep on coming for the Charlotte Hornets. They've learned today that they'll be without starting small forward Kelly Oubre Jr. for the next four-to-six weeks. 

Sources: Hornets forward Kelly Oubre Jr. will undergo surgery on a torn ligament in his left hand and miss 4-to-6 weeks. Oubre – averaging a career high 20.2 points – suffered the injury in the first week of the season and has been playing through the pain on his shooting hand.

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 3, 2023

Oubre will undergo surgery on a torn ligament in his left (shooting) hand tomorrow. He's been playing through the injury since the first week of the season. Despite that, he's averaged a career high 20.2 points this season. 

The 27-year-old took a couple of hits on the hand recently, leaving it especially sore, and as head coach Steve Clifford said, "you could see he was struggling to catch the ball."

Oubre is in the second year of a 2-year, $24.6M contract with the Hornets, and will be a free agent at season's end. 

In addition to the 20 points, he's averaging 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 steals per game. 

His absence will leave a big scoring void for the Hornets, who are already dead last in the NBA in offensive rating. 

All-Star point guard LaMelo Ball has already missed 24 games this season due to injury, and Gordon Hayward has missed 17. 

Photo: Sam Sharpe-USA TODAY Sports