Jazz Taylor Hendricks Offers Update After Leg Injury
Dec 4, 2024, 2:24 PM | Updated: Dec 5, 2024, 9:43 am
SALT LAKE CITY – Utah Jazz forward Taylor Hendricks offered his first update after suffering a gruesome leg injury earlier this season
The sophomore broke his fibula and dislocated his ankle on October 28.
Related: Taylor Hendricks Undergoes Successful Surgery
Taylor Hendricks Offers Update On Leg Injury
The injury occurred midway through the third period in a road game against the Dallas Mavericks in the team’s third game of the season.
“It was just like a regular play, I was just running back and I ended up just slipping on a wet spot,” Hendricks said. “I picked my leg up, and I seen my ankle was pointed the other way.”
“I just feel like everything happens for a reason.”@tayxhendricks met with the media for the first time since sustaining his injury on October 28 to check in and let us know how he’s feeling 💜#TakeNote
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) December 4, 2024
The game was interrupted as medical personnel put Hendricks’s ankle back in place, and wheeled the 20-year-old off the floor on a gurney.
“They took me back to get X-rays, and then they told me what happened,” Hendricks remembered. “Then, yeah, I was pretty much in disbelief because the season had pretty much just started.”
Hendricks played only 40 games for the Jazz as a rookie, but earned a starting spot to open his second year.
Jordan.
Taylor.
bucket.Presented by @pura pic.twitter.com/HrrnsoZQL5
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) October 24, 2024
Though he’d struggled to shoot the ball early in the season, his improvement was readily noticeable entering year two.
“I was just so excited to play my second year because I knew what to expect, and I was just so much more comfortable,” Hendricks said.
The forward underwent surgery on November 6, offering a silver lining to the difficult injury.
“I’m happy it happened early in the season so I can be able to fully recover and be ready for the next season,” Hendricks added.
What’s Next For Hendricks?
Since having surgery a month ago, Hendricks has returned to the Jazz practice facility and Delta Center to spend more time with his teammates.
The former lottery pick times his rehab to coincide with team practices, and has been watching home games from the locker room.
“They pretty much fixed the leg — the fracture in the fibula, but it’s really just working on my ankle mobility,” Hendricks said. “Getting that back, doing the rehab with that, and making sure I could just keep my muscle working out different parts of my body.”
We’re with you, @tayxhendricks 🖤 https://t.co/74gYcJIxLW pic.twitter.com/4IGj718WFL
— Utah Jazz (@utahjazz) November 6, 2024
As the season progresses, he’s expected to be able to spend even more time with his teammates.
“Probably early January will be a day I could be traveling,” Hendricks said. “So I’m looking forward [to] that.”
While the loss of playing time is a major setback in injuries, so is the lack of camaraderie that comes with playing a team sport.
While Hendricks’s teammates practice, play, and travel together, Hendricks is forced to spend time alone working on his rehab.
“I think being on the road with the team is really important,” Jazz coach Will Hardy said. “I think being on the plane, the bus, being around his teammates in those moments where you’re just one of the guys you’re just a part of the team, I think is really important for him.”
In 43 career appearances Hendricks is averaging 7.1 points and 4.7 rebounds while shooting 43 percent from the floor and 37 percent from three.
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Ben Anderson is the Utah Jazz insider for KSL Sports and the co-host of Jake and Ben from 10-12p with Jake Scott on 97.5 The KSL Sports Zone. Find Ben on Twitter at @BensHoops, on Instagram @BensHoops, or on BlueSky.Â
