Injuries are unfortunately commonplace in the NBA. Moses Moody was returning from one to his wrist as the Golden State Warriors took on the Dallas Mavericks Monday. They’re a pestering nuisance in the best of times, something that is always nagging teams and players, but that the league knows how to deal with through experience. Every now and then, though, a player suffers an injury that goes beyond the normal wear and tear of a basketball season and becomes upsetting on a purely human level.
That appeared to happen to Moody late in overtime of Golden State’s win Monday. After getting a steal on Cooper Flagg and trying to break away from a transition dunk, Moody’s knee buckled seemingly out of nowhere. He collapsed. Play continued until the Warriors were able to stop the game with a timeout following a missed Max Christie 3-pointer. At that point, the game paused for several minutes as teammates signaled for help. Moody needed to be taken off the court on a stretcher as Warriors and Mavericks alike looked on in dread.
Editor’s note: The following video contains a serious on-court injury that some viewers may find difficult to watch.
“I saw the looks on the Mavericks’ faces,” Warriors coach Steve Kerr said after the game. “Everybody on the floor was just horrified. Players care about players. They know how fragile this business is and how short their careers are, and how injuries can happen and can be catastrophic. We don’t know what it is yet. We’re just hoping for the best.”
The extent of the injury is not known at this point, though Kerr noted “it sure looked serious.” As Brandin Podziemski pointed out, it wasn’t even the first time this season the Warriors have experienced a significant knee injury. “Same as what happened with Jimmy [Butler],” Podziemski said after the game. “Not really words. You just hate to see it. Especially to the good people in life.” The Warriors were also without Stephen Curry, Seth Curry, Al Horford and Quinten Post on Monday.
But Moody’s injury was different. Not an ongoing malady, something players can easily rehab and deal with, but something sudden and violent, a reminder of just how tenuous life in the NBA can be.
The 34-38 Warriors were hanging on by a thread this season, virtually locked into no worse than the No. 10 seed, but too battered by injuries to make any real postseason noise. The concern now is longer-term, whether this injury will prove serious enough to affect Moody’s outlook for next season and beyond. For now, all Moody and the Warriors can hope is that the injury isn’t as bad as it looked.
