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Eric Bledsoe, due to a torn left meniscus, is out for the season

Eric Bledsoe during better times. (Getty Images)
Eric Bledsoe during better times. (Getty Images)

Eric Bledsoe tore the meniscus in his left knee on Saturday evening, and the resulting surgical repair will leave him out for the remainder of the 2015-16 season. His Phoenix Suns announced as much on Tuesday afternoon:

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Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe today underwent successful surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee and will miss the remainder of the 2015-16 season. His prognosis is for a return to full playing status for the start of training camp next fall.

Bledsoe, who has worked through two previous surgeries in attempts to recover from a previous tear to his right meniscus, tore the cartilage in the left knee after a collision with Philadelphia 76ers big man Robert Covington. After being carried off the court, the Suns lost that contest to the lowly Sixers, Philadelphia’s second win in 33 tries this season.

The Suns, after a game showing against Cleveland on Monday night, now stand at 12-21. If you think that mark stands as a massive setback for a team that somehow missed the playoffs in 2014 while winning 48 games, you’d be right. The current Western Conference, however, still could field one or two sub-.500 teams for the first time since 1997, and these Suns are just three games out of the current bracket.

Bledsoe averaged 20.4 points, 6.1 assists, four rebounds and a pair of steals for a team that isn’t playing in 1997, though. He had done well to adapt to the idea that new’ish teammate Brandon Knight was a full-on point guard, as opposed to the sort of hybrid-guard Bledsoe played so well with in 2013-14 in the form of Goran Dragic. No team losing its leading scorer can be expected to compete at any level in a league that is already moving on.

Pair, no, couple, no team this with the uncertainty that comes with the franchise dumping two of its assistant coaches while considering the job security of head coach Jeff Hornacek (who has no contract beyond this season, per a team-declined option) alongside the ongoing drama with forward Markieff Morris, and you have one of the league’s great messes.

The Suns asked Morris to apologize to his teammates and coaches prior to re-instating him as an active player, after Markieff apparently demurred following a text and Twitter “sry.” The team already dealt what could have been a franchise-making pick for Knight while spending gobs of cap space on Chandler (who, to be fair, isn’t at fault for his dip in production due to his age and lack of passing partners), and the team seems at odds with itself.

Literally, every part of itself. From owner to general manager to coach to players to, sadly, the squad’s sidelined point guard. Bledsoe’s injury is a serious one, and we may not see the same heights of the guard that delighted all of us so many times in 2013-14 again.

He’s worked through this twice before, it should be noted. This might be a lost season for all involved in Phoenix, but it doesn’t have to be a lost career or a lost run for this franchise.

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Kelly Dwyer

is an editor for Ball Don't Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at KDonhoops@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!