Andre Roberson to have season-ending leg surgery
Andre Roberson is officially done for the season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder shooting guard will undergo surgery to repair a ruptured left patellar tendon and will miss the rest of the campaign, the team confirmed Sunday.
Roberson, 26, was injured in a scary fall when his leg gave out while elevating for a rebound during Saturday's victory over the Detroit Pistons. He was carted off on a stretcher.
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
Oklahoma City's starting shooting guard, who missed eight games earlier this season with patellar tendinitis in the same knee, put up five points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 1.2 assists over 39 games.
Despite his modest counting stats, his impact cannot be understated as he's one of the NBA's best perimeter defenders. When he's on the floor, the Thunder limit opponents to just 96.4 points per 100 possessions, compared to 108.3 without him.
Roberson ranks third in the league in Defensive Real Plus-Minus (3.86) and second in defensive win shares. He's helped the fifth-place club to one of the NBA's stingiest defenses, allowing just 105.6 points per 100 possessions.
Suffice to say, the injury is a huge blow to the Thunder. They have an open roster spot and two small trade exceptions worth $2.55 million and $1.49 million, per ESPN's Bobby Marks. In the meantime, Terrance Ferguson or Alex Abrines could start in Roberson's stead.