Warriors’ Moses Moody Breaks Silence on ‘Gruesome’ Injury

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Moses Moody #4 of the Golden State Warriors

It has been almost three weeks since the Golden State Warriors suffered another in what has been a long and painful line of knee injuries this season, when Moses Moody suffered a torn left patellar tendon during a game against the Mavericks. It was an especially rough injury, one that happened on a fast break when Moody was pretty much alone near the basket. It was obvious from the beginning, though, that Moody had done some significant damage to the knee.

As Dr. Brian Sutterer, a sports medicine doctor, said in describing in on his YouTube channel, “Moses Moody went down with a gruesome-looking injury on this play. … It’s a really serious injury for Moses Moody.”

Indeed, the injury will knock Moody out for the remainder of this season and for a significant chunk of next season, a rough blow for a team that lost Jimmy Butler to a torn ACL in January and lost Stephen Curry for two months with tendinitis in his knee. The 23-year-old Moody had been averaging career highs in points (12.1), rebounds (3.3) and 3-point shooting (40.1%).

Moses Moody Speaks About Injury

On Friday, before the Warriors lost to the Kings, Moody spoke to reporters for the first time about the play on which he was injured, and his surgery.

Moody said he is aware the injury made the rounds on social media, and conceded he was gone back to watch it. “But not a lot,” he said, smiling.

Oddly, Moody said that the injury itself was not particularly painful, though it looked painful to those of us watching.

“It didn’t hurt when it happened,” he said. “So when it was going on the fast break, I thought Cooper (Flagg) ran from the back side, I thought we bumped knees or something. Going back and looking at it, he was nowhere near me. So I felt that. But when I looked at it, I knew it was something. I didn’t know what it was. But I knew it was something. I thought it was maybe dislocated or something and they could maybe pop it back in.”

Warm Welcome From Warriors Fans

Of course, it was not that simple. Moody had surgery the next day and is now beginning his rehab for the injury. He does not have a timeframe for his return to the Warriors–he has not picked a date he is aiming for–but typically, the recovery time from the injury is nine-to-12 months. We likely won’t see Moody back on the court until around next year’s All-Star break.

“I don’t have a target right now,” he said. “Just kind of putting my head down and doing the work.”

Moody has not been around the team all that much in the early stages of his recovery, but he was able to come out to the Chase Center this week, where he was given a rousing ovation by the home fans. He said he appreciated that, especially at this point in his recovery.

“Coming to Chase and getting the love that I got, I appreciated that, that was big for me. Just being able to feel it in the arena, I really enjoyed it,” he said.

Sean Deveney is a veteran sports reporter covering the NBA, NFL and MLB for Heavy.com. He has written for Heavy since 2019 and has more than two decades of experience covering the NBA, including 17 years as the lead NBA reporter for the Sporting News. Deveney is the author of 7 nonfiction books, including “Fun City,” “Before Wrigley became Wrigley,” and “Facing Michael Jordan.” More about Sean Deveney