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MKG tears labrum in right shoulder again, may need surgery

Charlotte Hornets fans' fears were again realized Thursday afternoon. As first reported by Spencer Percy of Queen City Hoops and subsequently confirmed by the team, a magnetic resonance imaging exam revealed that Hornets forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist has once again torn the labrum in his right shoulder and that he will be re-evaluated after the All-Star break.

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Kidd-Gilchrist first tore the labrum during an October preseason game, and made a somewhat startling return to the Hornets' lineup last month, nearly two months ahead of the expected recovery timetable laid out at the time of his initial surgery. Just seven games after coming back, though, Kidd-Gilchrist reinjured the shoulder during Wednesday's visit to Bankers Life Fieldhouse to take on the Indiana Pacers:

The famously hard-charging MKG suffered the injury after Pacers center Ian Mahinmi fell on him in the chase for a loose ball. He stayed down until Charlotte committed a foul to stop play, and needed to be helped to the locker room. He would not return, leaving the arena to go to an Indianapolis hospital to get his shoulder popped back into place; he finished with eight points, three rebounds, two assists and one steal in 19 minutes of work in a 117-95 win. He was initially diagnosed with a dislocated shoulder, but Thursday's MRI confirmed the tear.

Percy of Queen City Hoops reports that the injury will require surgery, but according to Rick Bonnell of the Charlotte Observer, Kidd-Gilchrist and the team have yet to cross that particular bridge:

Bonnell also wrote that while the Hornets have "provided no timetable for his recovery [...] it appears unlikely he’ll play again this season."

The news, and the prospect of Kidd-Gilchrist once again missing a sizable chunk of time, is a brutal punch to the gut for the 27-26 Hornets, who enter the All-Star break with a record above .500 for the first time in six years and in playoff position as the Eastern Conference's No. 8 seed.

Kidd-Gilchrist had been tremendous in his first six full games since returning, averaging 13.5 points, seven rebounds and 1.2 assists in 31 minutes per game while shooting 52.6 percent from the field and a shocking 42.9 percent from 3-point land. In keeping with the precedent set over the past couple of seasons, the Hornets again operated at a significantly higher level with MKG on the floor than off it after his return — Charlotte outscored opponents by 15.2 points per 100 possessions when he's playing and getting outscored by 4.3 points-per-100 when he's been on the bench.

After missing the entire first half of the season, Kidd-Gilchrist stepped right back in as Charlotte's best defender while also working his tail off to fit in on the offensive end, and it's been working, with the Hornets going 5-2 since his return. Now, again, Steve Clifford and company will have to make do without him. In the short term, that's likely to include the reinsertion of swingman P.J. Hairston into the starting lineup on the wing to keep star playmaker Nicolas Batum from having to defend opponents' best perimeter scoring options on a nightly basis; it could also prompt the Hornets, who'd like very much to return to the postseason this year, to look for some additional help in advance of the Feb. 18 trade deadline, though quality wing defenders aren't exactly a dime a dozen on the market.

However long Kidd-Gilchrist winds up on the shelf, it's kind of heartbreaking that he's back there to begin with. He came into the NBA as something of a door prize, the No. 2 pick in a 2012 NBA draft in which everybody only had eyes for No. 1 choice Anthony Davis. His janky jumper received significantly more attention than his dogged defense, and as the losses piled up in Charlotte, MKG became an afterthought; and yet, while the eyes of the league focused elsewhere, he just kept grinding away.

He worked tirelessly to rebuild his jumper, worked on improving his passing, worked on sharpening his already elite defensive play, and continued to contribute on the boards. He kept playing with a motor that makes him a coach's dream, but that might also make him more injury-prone than players who are willing and able to downshift. Now, what many once hoped would be a breakthrough campaign for the 22-year-old lockdown artist seems set to become a season deferred ... unless, of course, MKG can once again outrace the timeline and get back on the court before the start of the postseason.

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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!

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