He won’t play for Golden State again this season but could return to play sometime in the 2026-27 campaign.
Moody is set this week for surgery to repair his ruptured tendon and will face a return-to-play timeline of six to 12 months, per orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist Dr. Clinton Soppe of Cedar-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. Soppe was optimistic that the sharpshooting swingman can heal in full, rehabilitate and eventually reclaim his level of performance.
Dr. Nirav Pandya, an orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at UCSF, noted Moody’s youth at 23 as a favorable factor: “When you’re repairing this back, unless there’s something crazy on his MRI, you’re basically taking good quality tendon and repairing it back as opposed to someone who’s older where you’re taking something that’s already beaten up and then repairing it.”
A consultant for the Los Angeles Galaxy (MLS) who also tended recently to Jimmy Butler, Soppe saw video Tuesday of Moody injuring his left patellar tendon, which connects the kneecap to the shin. He said Moody had a “sudden contraction” of his quadriceps that put too much tension on the tendon when attempting to dunk Monday against the Dallas Mavericks, leading to its rupture.
He also said it’s possible Moody had an underlying issue, perhaps “jumper’s knee” or “tendinopathy.” Moody missed a stretch last season in the middle of December with left knee soreness.
“I don’t think it’s anything that particular jump caused. It looked like a pretty routine jump,” Soppe said. “It’s the underlying problem that’s sometimes known and that’s sometimes not known. It sometimes will cause symptoms and it sometimes won’t. … At that particular instance, if it didn’t happen that time — who knows? Sometime in the near future where the tendon’s got problems with it structurally and it just takes a certain amount of force where it’s going to rupture.”
Pandya said if the court was wet, that could have also played a role. “If he slipped a little bit while he was jumping, that could absolutely cause something like that,” he said.
Soppe said the procedure to reattach the tendon to the kneecap is “pretty routine” and “uncomplicated.” The process takes about an hour and a half and precedes what promises to be grueling rehab.
Some notable examples do not provide the most optimistic outlook: Victor Oladipo tore his left patellar tendon in 2023 and hasn’t since played in the NBA. Andre Roberson tore it in 2018 and lasted 12 more games in the league. Jeremy Lin tore his right patellar tendon in 2017, returning to play in 2018-19, his final season.
Caron Butler, however, tore his right patellar in 2011 and played five additional seasons with steady drops in production each year.
Oladipo and Butler were 30 at the time of their injuries. Lin was 29 and Roberson 26.
Moody turns 24 in May and averaged a career-high 12.1 points through 60 games while shooting a career-best 40.1% from three and operating as Golden State’s top perimeter defender.
Pandya said advancements in rehab could also aid his return to play.
“This is not a career-ending injury,” Pandya said. “He’s got (youth and better rehab) working in his favor. … This is something that’s going to take time to get back (from) but I don’t think this is the end of Moses Moody’s career.”