Midway through the third quarter of a generally benign Monday evening matchup between the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz, Utah guard Taylor Hendricks suffered a brutal injury.
The second-year NBA player was running unguarded on a fast break before cowering over in pain near the baseline after his right leg came stuck on the court underneath his body.
Hendricks’s lower leg appeared to pop out awkwardly below his knee in a fashion reminiscent of Paul George’s brutal injury suffered with Team USA back in 2014.
Team doctors rushed out to his aid and eventually transported Hendricks off the floor via a stretcher. The scene seemingly brought Jazz guard Keyonte George on the verge of tears.
Hendricks was later ruled to have suffered a fractured right fibula and will continue to undergo testing tomorrow in Salt Lake City.
Jazz coach Will Hardy was destitute when asked about the injury postgame: Thats hard to stomach. Hes put in a lot of hard work. Hes a great kid. These are the moments in sports that suck.
Utah would eventually fall 110-102 to Dallas. Guard Collin Sexton led the way for the Jazz with 23 points on 9-11 shooting in just 28 minutes as the team dropped to 0-3 on the young season.
Kyrie Irving paced the Mavericks with 23 points and nine assists as Dallas improved to 2-1. Offseason import Klay Thompson continued to play well, scoring 18 points while connecting on four three-pointers.
Hendricks missed all five of his shots in his 21 minutes and finished with two points, three assists, and two rebounds in the defeat.
The Jazz selected the second-year player out of UCF with the ninth pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. He would start 23 games last season, averaging 7.3 points and 4.6 rebounds.
“Taylor has openly gained a lot of weight and strength,” Hardy continued. “It showed up in the preseason and the early part of this season with his ability to defend and rebound and make plays at the basket.”
“He’s developed as a player [and] he’s developed as a young man…this is far from over for him. This is a pause button for Taylor.”
“You can see where this was going for him, and that’s a credit to him he’s put all the work in….he’s made a lot of progress as a player and I don’t see why that won’t be the case in the future.”
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