Hedo Turkoglu Injury Update: Orlando Magic Forward to Miss Three Weeks after Undergoing Facial Surgery

Hedo Turkoglu will miss at least three weeks to recover from three facial fractures suffered in Thursday's loss to the New York Knicks, the Orlando Magic announced Friday evening. Turkoglu will undergo surgery Saturday morning and hopes to return in time for the postseason.

Turkoglu has averaged 10.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 4.5 assists in 52 appearances--all starts--for Orlando during the 2011/12 season.

Quentin Richardson will assume Turkoglu's role as the team's starting small forward, assuming the sore back that has sidelined him lately feels well enough. If Quentin Richardson's back hasn't sufficiently healed, then Jason Richardson will move from shooting guard to small forward, and J.J. Redick will move into the starting five.

"Hopefully everything goes well in the surgery and I'll be OK and after a week or so I'll be able to do conditioning work and get back on the court," Turkoglu told John Denton of OrlandoMagic.com. "The doctor thinks after about 10 days that I can rejoin the team. I'm hoping to play in the last couple of regular season games and then be ready for the playoffs."

The Magic are currently mired in a five-game losing streak that's dropped them from third to sixth in the Eastern Conference. They'll have to grapple for playoff positioning without Turkoglu, whom some analysts have dubbed their x-factor for postseason success.

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