Is Charlotte Hornets’ Cody Zeller ready to call it a season?

Charlotte Hornets center Cody Zeller will miss his 10th consecutive game Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He has soreness and swelling in his left knee.

With two weeks left in the season, and the Hornets out of the playoff chase, is Zeller done until the fall?

Zeller said Tuesday he still hopes to play again this season, but he told the Observer that ideally he would rest the knee for several weeks. He thought he might be ready to play in Dallas Saturday, but the knee swelled again.

“I had to get back up to sprinting and cutting and jumping some,” Zeller said of testing the knee last week. “By Friday a lot of the swelling was back. They said when I had the surgery (for a torn meniscus in December) that the rest of the season would be up-and-down.

“Realistically, what it needs is just a few weeks to just rest. Which is frustrating, because I want to be out there playing even this time of year” out o the playoff hunt.

Does that mean he’s likely done for the season?

“We’ll see. They drained it (of fluid) last night, so it feels great today. But the swelling could be back tomorrow. You don’t know what it’s going to be like each morning when I wake up.”

Zeller and starting center Dwight Howard were projected to make for the deepest position on the Hornets’ depth chart. Howard has missed only one game this season (an automatic suspension for accumulated technical fouls). Zeller missed four games in October with a knee bruise, then 27 games with the torn meniscus.

In Zeller’s absence, Willy Hernangomez, acquired from the New York Knicks shortly before the trade deadline, has played around 15 minutes a game, and started when Howard sat out against the Memphis Grizzlies.

This story was originally published March 27, 2018 at 5:02 PM with the headline "Is Charlotte Hornets’ Cody Zeller ready to call it a season?."