NBA Rumors: Dejounte Murray’s recovery timeline revealed after hand injury

NBA Rumors: The New Orleans Pelicans must figure out how to survive without Dejounte Murray for the foreseeable future.

It was an encouraging and productive regular season debut for Dejounte Murray in a New Orleans Pelicans uniform. Of course, that was until he injured his hand in the fourth quarter of the team's season-opening win against the Chicago Bulls. Before he went down with the injury, Murray had compiled 14 points, 10 assists, and eight rebounds.

It's far from an ideal scenario for both Murray and the Pelicans but the injury could've been worse - especially considering that he doesn't have an extremely long recovery time. After sustaining what is being labeled as a fractured hand, a concrete recovery timeline has officially been revealed.

According to recent reporting, after undergoing surgery, Murray is expected to miss 4-6 weeks with the injury. Under the assumption that this recovery timeline is accurate, the likelihood is that Murray is going to miss between 20-23 games. It's certainly not what the Pelicans or Murray want but getting him back before the turn of the calendar year is good news.

It could be tough sledding for the Pelicans over the next few weeks but this is a team that has enough talent to remain afloat in the playoff picture of the Western Conference. And when Murray does return, the Pelicans should still have enough time to play their way into shape before the push toward the playoffs during the second half of the season.

The New Orleans Pelicans must survive without Dejounte Murray

From a pure talent perspective, the Pelicans are in a good position to be able to "survive" without Murray for a month. However, what could truly begin to derail this season for the Pelicans is if another big injury takes place.

It's one thing for the Pelicans to survive an injury to Murray for a month, but if they were to lose another key player for an extended period of time, it would truly challenge this team's overall depth.

The Pelicans are in a position in the West where they could emerge as a true dark horse threat. New Orleans doesn't have a complete team to win a championship this season but they could shake up a few things in the regular season and emerge as a problem in the postseason. But that only happens if they're healthy.

The fact that they're already dealing with an injury this early in the season is not a good sign moving forward.