Hornets' Nic Batum to miss 2-3 weeks with broken finger

Nicolas Batum is going to miss a few games for the Charlotte Hornets.

The club announced Thursday that the French forward is expected to miss "two to three weeks" after an MRI revealed that he broke the middle finger on his left hand during Wednesday's win over the Chicago Bulls.

Batum, 30, played just 11 minutes in that game, grabbing four rebounds and dishing out two assists. He did not attempt a shot.

The injury was diagnosed as an avulsion fracture, which is when "a small chunk of bone attached to a tendon or ligament gets pulled away from the main part of the bone," according to The Mayo Clinic.

This is the second injury for Batum early on this season. He featured in just two preseason games due to a sore achilles.

Batum played in the FIBA World Cup games this past summer for France and averaged 7.3 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists per-game.

He enters this season as the Hornets' second oldest player and its highest paid, earning a salary of $25.6 million this season. Batum is in the fourth year of a five-year contract he signed in 2015.

Batum didn't start on Wednesday against the Bulls, but was the second player to enter the game off the bench. Batum is a versatile defender and has the ability to play shooting guard, small forward and power forward. He has also been heralded for his ball movement skills in past seasons.

Last year, Batum posted the third-best three-point shooting percentage of his 12-year career, making 1.5 of 4.1 attempts per-game for a 38.9 percent clip.

On Thursday, according to Rod Boone of The Athletic, Hornets' head coach James Borrego said that undrafted rookie Caleb Martin could take on some of Batum's minutes.

Also...

It's unclear what Cody Zeller's status is for Friday night's home game vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The @hornets Cody Zeller did not practice today (personal reasons). His status for Friday’s game will be updated when available. #AllFly
— Charlotte Hornets PR (@HornetsPR) October 24, 2019

Zeller, 27, played 35 minutes in the win over the Bulls, posting 15 points, 12 rebounds and an assist.