Hedo Turkoglu Injury Update: Orlando Magic Unlikely to Have Forward Available for Playoffs

Orlando Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu's status for the playoffs "is as iffy as ever," writes John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com, and he may not be able to play at all in the postseason. Turkoglu took an elbow in the face from New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony in early April and suffered three fractures, which required surgery. And the recovery is going slowly, reports Denton, as Turkoglu only Friday began doing low-impact conditioning drills in the pool.

"The idea now is work in the pool with not as much head-jarring and get in some conditioning," Magic coach Stan Van Gundy told Denton. "Three weeks (of recovery time) was the absolute minimum, which puts him right at the start of the playoffs. But it's generally a 6-8-week injury. So the chances of him being back, I don't know."

Turkoglu, Orlando's sixth-leading scorer and starting small forward, is averaging 10.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists. In his absence, Jason Richardson has started in his place, moving J.J. Redick to the starting shooting-guard slot. Richardson has scored in double-figures in six of the seven games Turkoglu's missed, averaging 13.6 points, 4.3 boards, and 2.1 assists.

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