The Charlotte Hornets now trail the Miami Heat 2-0 in their first-round playoff series. Things shouldn’t be able to get much worse.
And yet, they did.
Nicolas Batum suffered an ankle injury midway through the fourth quarter of Wednesday night’s loss and was unable to return. Afterward, per ESPN.com’s Justin Verrier, it sounded like he was done for the series:
Batum was not available after the game, but Hornets center Al Jefferson said that the injury looks bad enough that he doesn’t expect him to return this series.
It looked bad when it happened,” Jefferson said. “Looking at his ankle now, it’s pretty bad.
“That’s part of the game. I feel like, me, personally, I don’t think he will be able to come back.”
When asked his level of concern about Batum’s injury going forward, Hornets coach Steve Clifford responded, “Very.”
“We won’t know anything until tomorrow, but there was soreness, obviously,” Clifford said. “And we’ll just see.”
The incident in question was not pretty.
Here’s a look:
FYI: Batum's ankle isn't supposed to bend that way. https://t.co/Pz5XPGrB9t
— Dan Favale (@danfavale) April 21, 2016
Nicolas Batum actually rolls both of his ankles on this play, and he dealt with ankle issues during the regular season. The chances of the Hornets digging themselves out of a 2-0 hole are slim to begin with; without him, it’ll be damn near impossible.
The Heat have torched them with Hassan Whiteside and even flirted with using Luol Deng at center for a bit in Game 2. The Hornets’ best chance at gaining some control of this series lies with using Batum as a small-ball 4, beside Marvin Williams at center.
That option appears to have gone out the window. And on a macro scale, Nicolas Batum will now enter free agency having potentially suffered another serious injury. He should still be part of the max-contract discussion, but depending on the severity of these ankle issues, the Hornets might be reluctant to reinvest so heavily in his future.
