Warning: The following injury hurts the Hornets, the fans, the NBA, and…..Chris Paul.

New Orleans PG Chris Paul is injured, again. He hurt his knee late in regulation in an overtime game on Friday against the Bulls and missed Saturday’s game vs. Memphis. It was originally expected that Paul would only miss a few games, but he is now scheduled to have arthroscopic surgery on Monday. He will miss one to two months as a result.

Earlier in the season, Paul missed eight games due to an injured ankle and the Hornets were 4-4 without him. They also won the Memphis game on Saturday without him, so they are 5-4 on the season without their franchise player. I’m pretty shocked by this record because he is so important to this team. However, I don’t see this working the same way for the next few weeks.

Paul is an all-star point guard and the Hornets will certainly miss his leadership, hustle, and talent on the court. New Orleans is currently the 8^th seed in the West at 26-21, but there are three other teams within a game of them for that final playoff spot. This cannot end well for them, so I’d say their playoff outlook is pretty bleak.

Darren Collison will step in at the point guard spot, as he did earlier in the season. He has played exceptionally well this year, but it is expected that he will slow down a bit as the season progresses. Now, with the weight of the team on his shoulders, he could crumble. I’ll give him credit though, he stepped up on Saturday against the Grizzlies, as he totaled 17 points and 18 rebounds.

As for the All-Star Game, Paul is obviously going to miss the game because of injury. Since this news just broke, a replacement has yet to be announced by commission David Stern. It is up to him to choose the replacement, and there are a couple of possibilities from the guard position for him to choose. The two favorites are Nuggets PG Chauncey Billups and Rockets PG Aaron Brooks. I’m going to go with Billups on this one.

Who do you think the commissioner should pick to replace Billups on the All-Star squad? Also, do you think the Hornets should make a trade to help them and their playoff hopes? Or do you think they can still make it as is?

-Shooter