At Monday morning's LA Lakers practice, 23-year-old guard Xavier Henry likely ruptured his Achilles tendon, as the Lakers were again hit hard on the injury front.
The Lakers cut practice short after the incident, and the mood at Monday's session was even more somber than one would expect on the heels of an overtime loss to the Denver Nuggets.
Henry left the Lakers' facility in a boot and on crutches and was expected to go to directly to have an MRI to confirm the rupture.
"Obviously, it brought practice straight down," Lakers coach Byron Scott said. "It was just 3-on-3. He just made a move like most guys do when they mess up their Achilles. Nobody hit him or anything like that. He went down and pretty much said to us he head a 'pop.'"
Scott added, "Obviously, he was devastated."
Following knee surgery and wrist surgery, Henry was a bit player for the Lakers under Scott, but he was still working to return to the levels of play he exhibited in his first season with the team.
During the 2013-14 season, Henry averaged 10.0 points in 21.1 minutes of play. Being a spot player and still working his way back into the rotation, Henry appeared in only nine games and averaged 2.2 points per game.
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The Lakers have not yet set a timetable on Henry's recovery, and the team would be expected to reach out to the NBA for emergency relief, as the Lakers now have three players who could easily miss the remainder of the season: Steve Nash, Julius Randle and Henry.
Scott concluded, "[We'll] go home tonight and we'll say a prayer for Xavier and the rest of the guys that we have that are injured."
