Frank Ntilikina Fractures Left Tibia

The injury happened in the 4th quarter of the Boston-Charlotte pre-season game

Frank Ntilikina had to be helped off the court in the 4th quarter of Charlotte's blowout loss against the Celtics. Steve Clifford said the following day he was feeling "Much better" and the team would know more after Ntilikina had an MRI scan. Unfortunately, the news will come as a bitter blow to an already shorthanded Hornets guard rotation.

OFFICIAL: Guard Frank Ntilikina suffered a non-displaced fracture of his left tibia in our preseason game against the Boston Celtics.

— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) October 21, 2023

According to the Charlotte Observer's Rod Boone, Ntilikina will be "Re-evaluated in four weeks". Even if Ntilikina was cleared for basketball activities after four weeks, there would likely be a multi-week "Ramp up" process for Ntilikina resulting in him missing between 15-20 games.

This injury creates an opportunity for Edmond Sumner or Theo Maledon to claim the back-up point guard role for the first month of the season. Maledon has been managing a shoulder injury in pre-season which has prohibited him for playing in a game. Sumner has logged minutes, but overall has struggled and not look capable of running the second unit. There is an outside chance Nick Smith Jr takes the opportunity, but Clifford seems to view Smith Jr as a secondary ball handler at this stage of his development.

With the NBA training camp cut off being on Monday the 22nd of October, the Hornets could keep their eye out for a back-up guard being cut from another team. 

Facebook - All Hornets

X - @All_Hornets and James Plowright