Eric Gordon: Hornets in Between a Rock and a Hard Place with Injury-Prone Guard

Eric Gordon is one of the most efficient scoring guards in the NBA when he's healthy.

The only problem is, injuries have limited him throughout the years and the New Orleans Hornets are in between a rock and a hard place because of it.

After Gordon missed 26 games in 2010-2011 and played in just nine games last season, the Hornets announced on Monday that the 23-year-old would be limited in training camp this year, according to CBSSports.com.

Gordon apparently experienced soreness in his right knee during voluntary workouts in the summer. That's troubling, considering it's the same right knee that he had arthroscopic surgery on last season before returning for Team USA's Olympic tryouts.

Of course, the Hornets wouldn't even have to deal with this if they hadn't matched the four-year, $58 million offer the Phoenix Suns sent Gordon's way in the offseason. 

Given Gordon's injury history, spending that amount of money on him may have seemed ill-advised. But it's also important to note that this is a young Hornets team coming off a 21-45 season and they were not only in need of a dependable player on the court, but a veteran leader.

If the Hornets hadn't re-signed Gordon, they would have had to find someone in the draft. The problem with that is, they were undoubtedly going to pick Anthony Davis at No. 1 overall and then they would have had to choose between a point guard or a shooting guard at No. 10. In short, there were too many holes for New Orleans to fill on the roster for them to let Gordon walk.

If Gordon happens to stay healthy moving forward, it should work out for the Hornets. On the other hand, the fact that he's already experiencing knee soreness this early is concerning for a player with a history of injuries.

It's hard to tell at this point what's more of a concern heading into the new season for New Orleans: how rookie Austin Rivers will fare at point guard or how many games Gordon will play.