Report: Roberson suffers ruptured patellar tendon following nasty fall
Less than 24 hours after All-Star DeMarcus Cousins' season was abruptly ended with a ruptured Achilles, the basketball world may have been hit with another major injury to a key contributor on a playoff-bound team.
Oklahoma City Thunder wing Andre Roberson left Saturday's game against the Detroit Pistons after taking a hard spill. The early diagnosis is a ruptured patellar tendon, although Roberson is still undergoing tests to confirm the severity of his injury, a league source told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski.
While going up for an alley-oop, Roberson planted his left leg awkwardly and hit the floor at an awkward angle.
Anthony Roberson slipped going up for an alley-oop and landed hard on his tailbone, was parallel to the ground about 4 feet in the air pic.twitter.com/88XlIxGVU2
— CJ Fogler (@cjzero) January 27, 2018
The 26-year-old crawled over to the sidelines and laid flat for several minutes before eventually exiting the game on a stretcher.
Andre Roberson's face tells you all you need to know about his diagnosis: Fear the worst. #Thunder pic.twitter.com/957YMcSoe2
— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) January 27, 2018
In 38 appearances prior to Saturday's matchup, Roberson averaged five points and 4.7 rebounds on 53.1 percent shooting for the 28-20 Thunder. While his offensive numbers aren't mind-blowing, his contributions on the defensive end are a major reason why Oklahoma City ranks fifth overall in that department.
Westbrook, George, Carmelo, Adams all on the floor together this season...
— Micah Adams (@MicahAdams13) January 28, 2018
Def rating with Roberson: 96.6
Def rating without Roberson: 114.5
One man causes a 4 man rotation to go from worst to first defensively.
Major blow to OKC defense.
When Roberson is on the floor, the Thunder allow 10.9 fewer points per 100 possessions.