Is Taylor Hendricks all right? The 20-year-old has had an abysmal start to his second season. Before the freak injury, the hooper seemed to have been making a decent impression during the ongoing Mavericks-Jazz matchup. His give-and-go move to set up an alley-oop slam certainly turned the focus on him amidst a star-filled game. Unfortunately, from the looks of it, the community may not get to see anything more from Taylor anytime soon.

The Mavericks-Jazz game had just 6 minutes remaining in the 3rd quarter and Taylor Hendricks was suddenly captured falling to the floor. As the hooper was in motion, in between landing awkwardly and attempting to get up soon, his right leg seemed to give way, indicating even from a faraway glance that he’d sustained something quite major.

The officials called the game to a halt, and staff members soon approached the player to examine him. As someone called in a stretcher to carry the player away from the court, a couple of Hendricks’ teammates approached him to offer some comfort.

In a display of sportsmanship, even Kyrie Irving went up to the power forward, tapping him on the shoulder and then walking away. Luka Doncic was right behind his teammate and repeated the same action as they prepared to wheel out the stretcher.

The public at the American Airlines Center would’ve mostly consisted of Mavericks fans. After all, the arena lies right in a populated area of Dallas, Texas. Meanwhile, Utah residents would have had to travel over 1,243 miles just for the game. It was heartwarming that as the medical team placed Taylor Hendricks on the stretcher and took him away, the crowd honored the young star by applauding him. Things can often become intense on an NBA court. Therefore, such rare moments of unity are a welcome sight.

Taylor Hendricks exited the game after scoring only 2 points during a span of 21 minutes. According to reports sourced from a Utah Jazz official himself, the 20-year-old has confirmed that he developed a fractured right fibula and dislocated ankle.

The official X account of the Utah Jazz stated that they will provide further updates only at a time that they deem “appropriate.” The concern towards Taylor Hendricks by both teammates and rivals showed that the ailment is not one to be taken lightly.

From Klay Thompson sitting on a bench seeming emotional to one Jazz player with tears in his eyes, the mood after the hooper’s exit was clearly a grim one. In light of this, one of the questions that would be on the minds of both players and fans would be: How did the injury take place? Well, the medical experts on social media have already begun the discussion on the same.

Renowned sports medicine doctor breaks down possible reason behind Taylor Hendricks’s injury: “Definitely not the end of his career”

Taylor Hendricks had barely been taken away. Brian Sutterer, however, was prompt with his update. The sports medicine doctor and known internet personality revealed that the player ran down the court, and used his left leg to brace but wasn’t too successful. This caused him to fall down and injure his leg. Drawing a comparison with the injury recently sustained by NFL wide receiver Chris Godwin, Stutterer diagnosed Hendricks’ injury as an ankle dislocation fracture. In light of all these grim speculations, the doc believes that is one thing to be optimistic about after having analyzed the player.

“Now, we’ve seen pretty serious injuries like this in the past. Of course, we say Gordon Hayward with a serious ankle dislocation fracture. Caris LeVert suffered, I think, just a simple pure dislocation. Both of those guys coming back and still having fairly successful careers,” said Dr. Sutterer. “So, despite how serious this looks, it’s definitely not the end of his career, but absolutely can have an impact on your function when you’re playing at that high of a level.”

The Utah Jazz has their next matchup scheduled in less than 24 hours from now. While it is unlikely that Taylor Hendricks will play anytime soon, possibly out for many weeks, fans highly anticipate a prompt injury update from the franchise.