An emotional and visibly shaken Will Hardy spoke about Taylor Hendricks after the Utah Jazz lost to the Dallas Mavericks 110-102 on Monday night. When a head coach watches someone grind in the weight room all summer, work tirelessly on his shot and generally do anything asked of him, moments like Monday night are difficult beyond the obvious reasons.
Hendricks, a 20-year-old second-year forward for the Jazz and former lottery pick, suffered a gruesome injury against the Mavericks. Officially, he has a fractured right fibula and a dislocated ankle. Team sources confirm to The Athletic that the injury will keep him out for the remainder of the season. Sources say Hendricks will soon undergo surgery, and then a long rehabilitation process will begin.
It is an injury with a potentially lasting ripple effect on Hendricks, his teammates and the Jazz organization. The shock of watching it live meant that Hardy and the Jazz had to make sure players mentally went into Tuesday night’s matchup against the Sacramento Kings in the right place. The Jazz have to replace Hendricks’ minutes and his impact on the starting lineup, and Hardy did so by elevating rookie lottery pick Cody Williams into the first five. Hardy had to manage the rotation with the bench minutes as well.
“Taylor is very important to us,” starting center Walker Kessler told The Athletic. “In many ways, he’s our best defender. We were putting him on the other team’s best player every night. He’s such a great guy off the floor. He’s our brother. We didn’t see him (Tuesday), but we already miss him a bunch.”
The non-contact injury was as bad as it was unfortunate and as difficult to process in real-time as it was in the minutes following. Jazz point guard Keyonte George had tears streaming down his face. Other Jazz players were visibly emotional on the bench. It was the kind of injury you can never unsee.
Hendricks came to Utah last year as a rookie, a shy teenager with potential. He wasn’t initially ready for minutes, but by the end of the year, he became a consistent contributor. This season, he earned a spot in Hardy’s starting lineup. He had shown a substantial amount of improvement. His movements were more confident. The game had slowed down for him.
On a personal level, that’s why his injury is a tough one to digest for the Jazz organization. By all accounts, Hendricks is one of the most likable and hardest-working players on the roster. It made him easy to root for, and it made him one of the most popular players on the team. It says a lot that the entire roster surrounded Hendricks when he was carted off the floor on a stretcher. At that moment, basketball was the furthest thing from the minds of the Utah Jazz.
“Taylor had openly gained a lot of weight and strength,” Hardy said. “It showed up in the preseason, and it started to show up in the regular season. This is far from over for him. We are going to support him in his road back, and that’s our focus for him. This is a pause button for Taylor. He will be back. The tough thing is that you could see where this was going for him. It was starting to come together.”
Last season, Hendricks showed the potential in flashes. It would be a play here or a play there such as the one where he recovered from being beaten off the dribble by Kevin Durant and blocked his shot against the backboard. By the end of the season, those flashes were coming more consistently. By the summer, Jazz officials were raving in private about how much work he had put in. And in Monday night’s game in Dallas, there was Hendricks, consistently harassing Mavericks star Luka Dončić into shots and plays that made him uncomfortable.
Still thinking about Taylor Hendricks blocking Kevin Durant pic.twitter.com/CY63sl8zgo
— Jazz Lead (@JazzLead) February 11, 2024
From a basketball sense, Hendricks’ absence will be notable because his skills are difficult to replicate. He is Utah’s best and most switchable defender, capable of guarding big and small. In last Wednesday’s season-opener against the Memphis Grizzlies, Hendricks served as Ja Morant’s primary defender. His size and ability to defend allowed the Jazz to start an imposing frontcourt that included Lauri Markkanen and Kessler, both 7-footers. Without Hendricks, Utah’s collective length up front won’t be as prevalent, which means the smaller backcourt of George and Collin Sexton will have more moments where they can and will be left on an island on defense.
Offensively, Hendricks was still being molded. He had developed as a shooter, but the Jazz had hoped to improve his ability off the dribble, believing that would be the skill that could potentially swing him from a role player to a potential star. Without Hendricks in the lineup, Williams and fellow rookie forward Kyle Filipowski figure to see an uptick in minutes. Filipowski, the 7-footer out of Duke, entered Hardy’s rotation when Hendricks went down.
Williams, in his first career NBA start, scored nine points, while handing out a pair of assists and coming up with a pair of steals in Utah’s 113-96 loss to the Kings. He showed flashes, including a couple of excellent playmaking reads that led to assists. He scored all of his points from above the 3-point line. Without Hendricks, Williams is often going to draw the toughest defensive assignment. Filipowski was terrific. He scored 12 points, while grabbing eight rebounds and handing out two assists. He showed his versatility offensively, muscling inside the paint for baskets and scoring from the perimeter. He made plays off the dribble. On a night when the Jazz lost their fourth consecutive game to start the season, Filipowski served as a bright spot.
Hardy knows what his team is facing mentally. But he was pleased that the Jazz seemed to be in a good spot on Tuesday night during the game. He knows the healing process will take some time. But the game against the Kings served as a refuge.
“It was weird to be without him because we had gotten into a rhythm of playing with him,” Hardy said. “You know what lineups he is going to play with; you know what substitution pattern you are going to have. Without him, we had to figure out a lot of things. But I thought when we are in the game, the guys lose track of everything and are focused on the game. The second it’s over, we all go back to thinking about Taylor.
“But I thought the players were in a relatively good place tonight. I didn’t think it was like last night, when I thought it was clear we were thinking about Taylor. I thought tonight was a positive step.”
From a front-office perspective, Hendricks’ injury is devastating. Hendricks had been the one second-year player who had taken a leap from his rookie season. George has struggled as Utah’s starting point guard. Brice Sensabaugh has had some moments but hasn’t found a consistent footing in three games. Hendricks has established the floor of being at least a valuable role player with the ceiling for more.
With Hendricks out for the season, that takes away a year of development on his rookie contract, which is crucial for a team like the Jazz. A primary focus this season was getting reps and playing time for the young players, for evaluation and for getting better. The good news is that Hendricks has shown enough that you can see where he fits and where he projects as a player. Even if he doesn’t turn out to be a star-level talent, his defense and shooting make him a valuable potential role player on a good team.
For Hendricks and the Jazz, getting the rehab process started and getting him back to full strength as soon as possible is the primary goal.
“Obviously the most important thing is Taylor,” Hardy said. “We want to make sure that he is in a good place. That was hard to stomach. He’s put in a lot of great work and he’s a good kid. These are the moments in sports that suck.”
(Photo of Taylor Hendricks: Richard Rodriguez / Getty Images)
