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Much was made of the comment Mike D'Antoni made when he said James Harden would be playing point guard for the Rockets this season, but now it looks like their actual starting point guard won't be available for some time.

ESPN reports that D'Antoni not only ruled out Patrick Beverley for next week's season opener, but he could have surgery on his left knee.

With Beverley out, the Rockets lose a quality shooter who can also defend on the perimeter. They can get by with offensive firepower by starting Eric Gordon next to Harden in the backcourt, but Beverley's absence will be felt in a big way.

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Patrick Beverley's season debut could get hung up by surgery. USATSI

Houston does have some promising talent in the pipeline, though. Veteran Pablo Prigioni is still capable of making some plays and is a pest. After that, the Rockets traded for Tyler Ennis earlier this month, and Gary Payton II has shown some things in preseason. There's a good chance that one of them will excel because point guards in D'Antoni's system basically get the invincibility stars from Mario Bros.

If Beverley misses major time, though, it's going to make their biggest challenge, defense, an even bigger hill to climb. Beverley did take time Tuesday to take exception to his exemption on one of the NBA GM survey question's responses.