Hornets guard James Bouknight will undergo arthroscopic surgery on Wednesday to address a meniscus injury in his left knee, the team announced in a press release.
The third-year guard suffered the injury on Thursday during a training camp practice. Bouknight will be reevaluated in four weeks.
It’s a huge setback for the 2021 lottery pick out of UConn, who has disappointed during his first two NBA seasons. He appeared in just 34 games last season off the bench after seeing action in 31 games as a rookie. He’s averaged 5.1 points, 1.9 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 12.6 minutes per game during his two-year career.
Bouknight came to camp without a clear role. He’s not guaranteed any money beyond this season. The Hornets must decide this month whether to pick up their $6MM rookie scale option on Bouknight for the 2024/25 campaign.
That seems even more unlikely now that he won’t be available at the start of this season.
Bouknight can go ahead and put his Charlotte crib on the market now.
Are the hornets the saddest team in sports?
Sadly yes
A case of a guy who should have stayed in college. He was nowhere near tough enough to go pro after sophomore year.
He will get a G-League 2 way contract next year or Shanghai Sharks.
Hornets have mismanaged more players than any other team. Bouknight should be at worse a rotation guy by now.
Since the yr 2000. They have had
18 lottery picks ……
28 — #1 picks ……
And all that gave them is the 2023 #2 pick in the draft. They are clueless
CHA is a mess, but with new owners coming in, there is a chance to set a path to stablization. Too late for major changes before the season. But they can certainly mandate a semi-cleaning out of their locker room. Neither Bridges nor Bouknight should be in there going forward, and that would apply to anyone else that that’s high maintenance or who aspires to be. They can also mandate that Clifford be empowered to actually coach the team (he should remember what’s that’s like), and that the FO and he work together to add veterans to the roster that better the product. Tell both, that they’ll be evaluated on that basis.