The Warriors have suffered one setback after another this season, especially in terms of injuries. The most recent victim of the injury curse that seems to plague the Golden State was Moses Moody, who suffered a season-ending injury on his left knee (a torn patellar tendon) in their recent overtime win over the Mavericks.
Soon after the 23-year-old guard was diagnosed with a season-ending injury, Dr. Nirav Pandya, a Professor of Orthopedic Surgery at UC San Francisco and the director of Sports Medicine, offered his opinion on the injury and gave a detailed breakdown of the next steps for Moody and how much time it could take for him to get back on the court.
“Whenever an injured player falls to the ground, and you see a knee cap out of place, you worry about two main injuries. You worry about a patellar tendon rupture, or you worry about a patellar dislocation.”
“What happens when you suffer a patella tendon rupture is that the knee cap, when the tendon ruptures, moves up and you’re actually seeing the condyles of the bone, which are uncovered, since typically it’s the patella that covers that area.”
“But when the patellar tendon ruptures, because nothing is holding the patella in place, it moves up higher on the leg. The reason why the patellar tendon is important is for running, jumping, and doing all the explosive activities that you need to do in basketball.”
“That’s why when players have patellar tendinitis, they call it the jumper’s knee, because it’s from repetitive jumping. So what happens during the surgery is that since the patellar tendon doesn’t completely heal itself since it’s ruptured, the patellar tendon is actually sewn back into the patella.”
“That can be done using things called the suture anchors; it can also be done through the tunnels where the patellar tendon is basically sown, and the stitches go up through the patella itself.”
“The typical recovery for this surgery is 9 to 12 months. If you look at the percentage of players who make it back, it’s somewhere between 75-90% based on which study you read.”
“The important thing to notice is that for the first year or two afterwards, it can be hard to get back to the same level of play. Now with newer surgical techniques and more aggressive rehabilitation, players can get back to a higher level.”
“But the important thing to note is that it’s a 9-12 month recovery, the patellar tendon is important for jumping and explosive activities, and what occurs during surgery is that the patellar tendon is repaired, which restores the tendon, and allows it to basically function and bring the kneecap back to the proper position,” said Dr. Pandya in conclusion.
Steve Kerr, the Warriors’ head coach, also shared a small positive update that reduced the blow of this bad news.
“The MRI was clean. It’s the [patellar] tendon. No damage to cartilage or bone, so that’s the good news. That allows it to be a pretty basic surgery,” Kerr said in his appearance for an interview on the Willard and Dibs’ radio show on 95.7 The Game.
“Good news from Steve Kerr. The surgery itself is typically relatively straightforward from a technical standpoint. It’s the rehab/healing process that makes this injury a grueling process,” Dr. Pandya responded.
Moody was ending the first year of a three-year, $39 million extension he signed with the Warriors in the summer. Considering that he is expected to be fit to play as late as April next season, there is a chance that we will not see him in action at all until the 2027-28 season, which is the final year of his contract.
From having the best season of his career, where Moody averaged 12.1 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 1.6 assists, while shooting a career-high 40.1% from the three-point line, the Warriors guard’s career now looks derailed and at risk of being over.
We send our heartfelt prayers for Moody and hope he bounces back stronger.
But at a time when the veteran Warriors team needs young talent and the competition is cutthroat on who will replace Curry as the face of the Warriors when he leaves, this injury has certainly diminished and stunted the potential prospects of growth in Moody’s career.
