MIAMI, Fla. — Hornets forward David West said Monday he could miss anywhere between two and eight weeks while recovering from elbow surgery, which he is scheduled to have Wednesday in Oklahoma City.
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Hornets forward Peja Stojakovic, who underwent back surgery in Oklahoma City on Sunday, is expected to miss "a big portion of the season,” likely a few months, according to Hornets coach Byron Scott.
Although the team hasn't set a definite timetable for their returns, West and Stojakovic's absences will leave the Hornets without two of their top three scorers for an extended period of time.
"I think it's hard to replace both of those guys, period,” Scott said. "I think we could survive if one of them was out and the other was playing. We'd obviously have a much better chance of surviving. But if both of them are out, it just makes it harder on us as a basketball team.”
No one expects either Stojakovic or West to be back soon.
"He's going to miss a big portion of the season, it's no doubt about that,” Scott said of Stojakovic. "David, I have no clue. Two to eight weeks, that's a big cloud. But with Peja, anytime you're dealing with a back, you're talking about a couple of months or more. I don't know where he'll be when all that's said and done or how close he'll be to playing shape and ready to get back on the court.”
Hornets guard Bobby Jackson, who played with Stojakovic for five seasons in Sacramento, said he doesn't expect Stojakovic to be 100 percent for the rest of the season.
"Can he be the same player? Yeah,” Jackson said. "But it's (not) going to be in the amount of time that we want it to be. It won't be this season.
"That's probably going to be a frustrating thing for him and this team. But you've got to take the bad with the good, and we've got to step up as players.”
Jackson, who has been sidelined for the past eight games because of a cracked rib, said his own health is slowly improving. Jackson said he has resumed shooting drills but still feels pain while running. He is hoping to be better in a week.
As for West, who hasn't played since Nov. 12 because of swelling in his elbow, he said surgery was the last option after several medications failed to alleviate his pain and swelling.
"It's already been like five weeks, and this is something that we talked about close to three weeks ago,” West said of the decision to have surgery. "The doctor said that was the direction it was heading.
"(My recovery) could be anywhere from two weeks to eight weeks. But it's based on the amount of swelling in my elbow. It won't be that long. Once we clean the elbow out, the elbow will be fine and it'll just be a matter of how soon I heal.”
West has played in just seven games this season, averaging 17.4 points and 8.3 rebounds in 35.7 minutes. Stojakovic averaged 17.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 13 games.
"You feel for those guys, because you know they're great guys and we know we need them on the court,” Jackson said. "But it's part of the game. Everybody's really going to have to step up now and really play hard.
"As a team, we've got to play better, knowing that they're not going to be back as soon as we thought they would be. The pressure is on us now to go out and play.”
