The Hornets will be without all-world point guard Chris Paul for the next 4-8 weeks as he will have surgery soon to repair torn cartilaga in his left knee. Paul has played in 38 games (all starts) for the Hornets this season and he is averaging 38.7 minutes, 20.4 points, 4.6 rebounds, 11.2 assists and 2.3 steals per game. He is also shooting well from everywhere on the floor hitting 50.4% from the floor, 40.2% from three point range and 86.2% from the free throw line. The Hornets are 26-21 on the season and they are tied for the 8th spot in the conference right now with the Thunder. It will be up to rookie Darren Collison to keep the Hornets in the playoff race.

SG/SF James Posey is out indefinately with a Achilles problem. This will hurt the Hornets some as the bench is pretty thin now due to the recent trades of Devin Brown, Bobby Brown and Hilton Armstrong. Posey has played in 45 games (2 starts) for the Hornets this season and he is averaging 22.4 minutes, 5.6 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. His shooting has been way off this season as he is only hitting 37.7% of his shots from the floor and 34% from three point range. Look for the starters to play more minutes for the Hornets until Posey returns to action because Julian Wright still appears to be in the Dog House.

The Hornets will be without back-up center Sean Marks indefinitely with a strained muscle in his lower leg. Marks has played in 5 games (0 starts) for the Hornets this season and he is averaging 7.6 minutes, 1.0 point, 4.0 rebounds and 0.4 assists per game. The Hornets won’t miss Marks too much as he is the #3 center on the team.

The Hornets will be without starting point guard Chris Paul for at least two weeks with a severely sprained left ankle. Paul has played in 10 games (all starts) this season for the Hornets and he is averaging 34.0 minutes, 23.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 9.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game. Paul was the player the Hornets could least afford to lose on this team because he’s the guy that makes everything go. Rookie Darren Collison will likely replace Paul in the starting lineup and that’s a lot to ask of a rookie. Collison has played in 6 games (0 starts) this season for the Hornets and he is averaging 11.8 minutes, 6.5 points, 1.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. He does have a nice upside but he will have a lot of pressure on him to produce right away. Veteran Bobby Brown will also likely see a bump in playing time with Paul out of action. Brown has played in 9 games (0 starts) for the Hornets so far this season and he is averaging 17.6 minutes, 7.9 points, 0.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game. The Hornets have to hope that Paul makes a real quick recovery.

Rookie guard Adam Haluska will miss up to the next two months for the Hornets with a severely sprained ankle. Haluska hurt his ankle in practice which has been his only action this season as he has yet to play in a game. The veteran Hornets won’t miss Haluska much while he’s out.