Moses Moody suffered a torn patella tendon in his left leg on Monday night vs Dallas. It got me asking the question about other players that had similar injuries and what it could mean for Moody’s career

Antonio McDyess (2001)

Prior to 2001, McDyess was an All Star and All-NBA level player (making All-NBA 3rd team in 1999, and an All Star team in 2001). Just 10 games into the 2001-02 season, McDyess suffered a torn patella tendon. He went on to miss the rest of the season and was traded to the Knicks after the season in a package centered around Marcus Camby and Nene. McDyess would miss the entire 2002-03 season rehabbing, and was not the same player when he came back. Just after playing 18 games with New York, he was traded mid-season to Phoenix. In the summer of 2004, McDyess signed with the Pistons where he was a solid bench player for them for the next several years, but after the injury he never averaged double figures again.

Kelenna Azubuike (2009)

Kelenna Azubuike is more so known now for being one of the color commentators for the Warriors, but yes he did suffer this same grotesque injury. Buike was just coming off the best year of his young career where he averaged 14 PPG on 46/45/80 shooting splits and looked like he could be a young piece moving forward for the Warriors along with rookie Stephen Curry. After just 9 games into the 2009-10 season, Keleena was driving inside for an acrobatic finish and his leg gave way. He would miss the rest of the season, and that summer would be traded to the Knicks in a sign-and-trade for David Lee. Buike would miss the rest of the next season and be waived by the Knicks in the middle of the season. He wouldn’t play another game until March of 2012 when he suited up for the Dallas Mavericks. That summer he would be traded to Cleveland for Jae Crowder then waived by the Cavs. After the injury, Kelenna Azubuike only played in 3 NBA games.

Caron Butler (2011)

By this time, Butler was passed his prime, but he was still a good contributor. Averaging a solid 15 PPG for a Dallas team that in just a few months, would win an NBA title, but it wasn’t due to the help of Butler. On the first day of 2011, Butler would go down with his injury in a game vs the Milwaukee Bucks. As I said, Dallas would go on to win the title without him, and that summer he signed with the Clippers as a FA where he would still put up solid numbers averaging just over 12 PPG. He then would hit natural regression as he was in his mid 30s at this point, so I can’t say that this is a bad instance because of that.

Jeremy Lin (2017)

Linsanity was looking like it was happening again on opening night in Brooklyn of 2017. Linsanity had put up 18 points in 25 minutes, and then he went down. First game of the season too. Lin would be traded that summer to Atlanta and then bought out in February of 2019. After the buyout he was signed with the Toronto Raptors where he would become an NBA Champion on the 2019 Raptors. He wouldn’t play in the league again after that season.

Andre Roberson (2018)

In January of the same season as Lin, Andre Roberson went down with torn patella tendon. Roberson before was a defensive monster who could clamp up any opponents best player. Roberson missed the entire 2018-19 season rehabbing, and didn’t play another NBA game until August of 2020 in the Bubble. After the injury he would play in just 12 more games (7 for OKC and 5 for Brooklyn) though is it because of the injury or because he wasn’t a good shooter in a league where you need shooters.

Victor Oladipo (2023)

This one is just heartbreaking. Oladipo had been an All Star level player well before then he got the quad injury. But he had found himself in Miami after that revitalizing his career in a defensive specialist type of role, then in the 2023 playoffs in game 3 vs the Bucks, Oladipo went down with the injury. He was 30 went he got to injured. He hasn’t played in an NBA game since then.

What dos this mean for Moody?

History tells us that this doesn’t look good for Moody. He is the youngest out of all of these guys so at this point I’m just hoping he can comeback and craft out a solid bench role for the remainder of his career.