Hornets guard Frank Ntilikina has sustained a non-displaced fracture of his left tibia and will be out at least four weeks, which is when he’ll be reevaluated, the team announced via Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer.
Ntilikina suffered the injury during Thursday’s preseason finale against Boston. He was originally diagnosed with a hyperextended knee, but further testing revealed the fracture.
A former lottery pick (No. 8 overall in 2017) who is still just 25 years old, Ntilikina spent his first four NBA seasons with the Knicks and the past two seasons with the Mavs. In August, he signed a one-year, minimum-salary contract with Charlotte as a free agent, but his deal is only partially guaranteed for $200K.
It’s unclear if the injury might cause the Hornets to release Ntilikina. Being out at least four weeks with the regular season about to begin in a handful of days certainly isn’t ideal for either party, to put it mildly.
After Charlotte waived Kai Jones, it seemed like Ntilikina’s path to making the opening-night roster was more secure. The fractured tibia makes it more of a question mark.
While he has never been great on offense, posting a subpar shooting slash line of .371/.323/.760 over 316 regular season games (17.1 MPG), the French guard is a talented defensive player and the Hornets don’t have many strong defenders on their roster.
Ntilikina was likely competing for backup point guard minutes alongside first-rounder Nick Smith, Edmond Sumner and Theo Maledon, who is on a two-way deal. Ntilikina’s injury seemingly makes Sumner even more likely to make the team — he’s on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract.
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