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NBA notebook: Hornets’ Kidd-Gilchrist could miss season

The Sports Xchange

October 05, 2015 at 4:11 pm.

If Kidd-Gilchrist is sidelined for six months, it probably means he will miss the entire season. He would not return until the final weeks of the season in April. Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

If Kidd-Gilchrist is sidelined for six months, it probably means he will miss the entire season. He would not return until the final weeks of the season in April. Joshua S. Kelly-USA TODAY Sports

Charlotte Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist underwent an MRI exam that revealed he had suffered a torn labrum in his right shoulder during Saturday’s preseason game against the Orlando Magic, the team announced Monday.

Yahoo Sports reported that Kidd-Gilchrist will require surgery and will be sidelined for six months, although the team announcement made no mention of possible surgery or how long Kidd-Gilchrist would be out.

Kidd-Gilchrist is scheduled to visit Hornets team orthopedist Dr. Marcus Cook on Tuesday to determine the next steps for the recovery and rehabilitation of his shoulder.

If Kidd-Gilchrist is sidelined for six months, it probably means he will miss the entire season. He would not return until the final weeks of the season in April.

–For the first time in nine months, Kobe Bryant played in an NBA game.

It didn’t matter that the future Hall of Famer’s first shot clanked off the side of the backboard. Or that he shot 1-for-5. Or that he only played 12 minutes and didn’t record a rebound or an assist and have one turnover.

Bryant, who is entering his 20th season, hadn’t played since tearing his rotator cuff on a routine dunk in January in New Orleans. And on Sunday against the Utah Jazz in a preseason game on the campus of the University of Hawaii the 37-year-old was the Lakers’ starting small forward.

–New Orleans Pelicans backup center Alexis Ajinca will be out from four-to-six weeks after straining his right hamstring during a preseason game.

The team said Ajinca suffered the injury during the second quarter of Saturday’s preseason win over the Indiana Pacers.

–Philadelphia shooting guard Nik Stauskas will miss the next two weeks because of an injury to his right tibia.

The Sixers’ second-year player has not scrimmaged since last week when he suffered the injury.

Power forward Nerlens Noel also experienced soreness in his hip during Monday’s practice but is expected to play against the Wizards.

–Former Phoenix Suns center Neil Walk died Sunday night. He was 67.

No cause of death was reported, but the Arizona Republic said Walk was in poor health for some time and had been hospitalized for “various reasons.”

In 1969, the Suns lost a coin flip to the Milwaukee Bucks for the rights to draft Lew Alcindor, who later became Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. The Suns then picked Walk, a University of Florida standout, with the second pick.

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