Tests confirmed that Golden State Warriors wing Moses Moody suffered a torn left patellar tendon, league sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania on Tuesday, ending his season.
Surgery is set for Thursday, league sources said. Moody faces a lengthy rehab process that is expected to impact his availability into next season.
Moody suffered the noncontact injury late in the Warriors’ 137-131 overtime win in Dallas on Monday night when his left knee buckled while planting for an attempted transition dunk.
Moody had missed the previous 10 games with a right wrist sprain. In his return, Moody was having one of his best games of the season. He had 23 points when he ripped the dribble of Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg and pushed his third steal of the night ahead for a wide open transition dunk to punctuate the win with one minute left.
But he was never able to complete the dunk. Moody tore his left patellar tendon on the plant and immediately grabbed at it, falling to the floor under the basket near the Warriors bench as the Mavericks grabbed the loose ball.
Play continued for several seconds as Moody remained down. After the next whistle, teammates, staff and trainers gathered around Moody to check on him. Arena workers brought a stretcher out and the game was stopped for several minutes. Veteran teammate Draymond Green embraced Moody with a hug as he was wheeled down the tunnel.
“It’s brutal, you know we’ve been waiting [for him] to get back healthy,” Green told NBA on ESPN Radio after the game. “Moses is a guy who does everything right.”
Rick Celebrini, the Warriors’ lead medical decision maker, pushed Moody out of the arena in a wheelchair. He flew back to the Bay Area with the team and received confirmation of the diagnosis after an MRI in San Francisco on Tuesday afternoon.
“Mo is such a great human being,” Kerr said. “Great teammate. Wonderful guy to coach. Just puts in the work every day and was brilliant [Monday night], by the way.”
This is the latest in what has been a wave of devastating injury luck for the Warriors. Veteran wing Jimmy Butler tore his ACL in early January. Star guard Stephen Curry will miss his 23rd consecutive game on Tuesday night because of a persistent right knee issue. Starting center Al Horford is currently out with a calf strain.
Under increased adversity, the Warriors have lost 16 of their last 23 games, falling to 34-38, placing them as the 10th seed in the Western Conference.
But the bigger picture question is how this will impact next season for the Warriors as they try to claw back into contention before Curry’s career ends.
Butler’s ACL rehab and Moody’s presumed timetable are expected to keep them sidelined for at least a large portion of next regular season, meaning they’ll be without their second-best player and a starting wing.
Moody was averaging a career-high 11.9 points this season, his fifth in the NBA. He is on the first season of a three-year, $39 million extension.
