The 2023-24 NBA Regular Season has not even tipped off yet; however, it appears as though the New Orleans Pelicans may be starting their year off without one of their best players. On Wednesday, ESPN Senior NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski reported that blossoming young star Trey Murphy III suffered a meniscus injury in his left knee during a workout.
ESPN Sources: New Orleans Pelicans G Trey Murphy III suffered a meniscus injury to his left knee during a workout today and will undergo further testing. It is immediately unclear whether he’ll require surgery. pic.twitter.com/34kB1sb4vk
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) September 5, 2023
As the tweet above suggests, Murphy’s status is still up in the air. But as Dr. Evan Jeffries noted in a tweet below that, the type of tear Murphy has incurred will determine how long his recovery will take.
According to Dr. Jeffries, if the tear is such that Murphy will require a Meniscectomy, the recovery period will be about four to eight weeks. Meanwhile, if he needs a meniscus repair, Murphy will be on the shelf for about four to six months.
There is also a universe where the meniscus tear isn’t significant enough to warrant any treatment at all, which would be a huge sigh of relief for Murphy and the entire organization. Maybe his leaving the workout today after the injury was more of a precautionary measure than anything else.
However, given the fact that it was reported by Wojnarowski (and further corroborated by team reporters), it feels as though this injury will require some type of procedure.
If it is the Meniscectomy, that means he could theoretically be back before the Pelicans’ first game of the season (October 25th), or at least a few weeks after that. But if he opts for the meniscus repair, he won’t be back before the end of 2023. And there’s a chance he misses a majority of the regular season (or maybe all of it if he experiences a setback of some sort).
Regardless of what treatment method is required, knee injuries are no joke. And if Murphy’s meniscus injury is serious, that is a massive blow to a franchise that just watched their once-promising 2022-23 campaign go down the drain because of a hamstring injury suffered by Zion Williamson.
Fingers crossed that this turns out to be a false alarm. But today is definitely a rough day for Murphy, the organization, and all of its fans.