One day after his 26th birthday, Charlotte Hornets guard Kemba Walker had surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. Knee surgery doesn’t exactly sound like the most exciting birthday gift, but a healthy left knee will probably give him reason to celebrate.
The Hornets announced Monday morning that the fifth-year guard is expected to resume basketball activities in early July. What isn’t known is how long Walker was playing with the injured knee. If he was struggling with the injury for any extended span of time, it wasn’t apparent from his performance. There was no noticeable dropoff in his numbers in terms of minutes played or production at the end of the regular season, if that’s when he sustained the torn meniscus.
🔥TOP PLAYS🔥 @KembaWalker moved up in the franchise’s career leaderboards this season 👉https://t.co/18wySNasnshttps://t.co/qK7FzlJpbz
— Charlotte Hornets (@hornets) May 9, 2016
That also applies to the NBA Playoffs, during which Walker averaged 22.7 points and four assists per game during Charlotte’s seven-game series versus the Miami Heat. (However, perhaps his 37 percent shooting from the field provides some indication that he wasn’t at his best.)
Walker averaged a career-high 20.9 points per game during the regular season, finishing second in balloting to Portland’s C.J. McCollum for the NBA’s Most Improved Player award. He also started 81 games (second-highest total of his career), while shooting 43 percent from the field and 37 percent from three-point range, both the best marks among his five NBA seasons.
The surgery is the second procedure performed on Walker’s left knee in 18 months. In January 2015, he underwent surgery to repair a torn lateral meniscus.
Selected ninth overall in the 2011 NBA Draft out of the University of Connecticut, Walker is under contract with the Hornets through the 2018-19 season. In 2014, he signed a four-year, $48 million extension which began this past season.
