Taylor Hendricks suffered an injury no human being should have to through. Even worse, it was only three games into his second NBA season, and it was one of the worst storylines of the 2024-25 season. If that's not heartbreaking enough, Hendricks admitted he didn't think he was done for the season when it first happened.
In an interview with SLAM Magazine's Izabella Williams, Hendricks revealed his candid thoughts when it first happened.
"After athletic trainers rushed over to pop his dislocated ankle back in place, Hendricks thought to himself, OK, I’m probably good. I’ll probably be out for a few weeks. I’m probably straight," Williams wrote.
Hendricks was then put on a stretcher, which is always a pretty good indication of something truly bad. He admitted he was in complete disbelief when he wrapped his head around what was happening.
“I was like, bro, there’s no way this is happening to me,” Hendricks told Williams. “You know, you would see it online happen to other players, like crazy injuries, but for it to actually happen to you, it’s crazy.
It wasn't until Hendricks returned to Salt Lake City that he fully understood what he just suffered.
“That’s probably when it really hit me,” he told Williams. “Like, Wow, I’m really hurt. I can’t do nothing. My season’s over.”
Suffering an injury like that, especially in Hendricks' case, must have been hard to comprehend fully with his circumstances. It was his second season, and Utah expected to see progress from the youngster as he was their starting power forward. It was supposed to be trial by fire for the sophomore, but it abruptly got cut short because he suffered a freak injury he never deserved.
Hendricks is expected to fully recover and should be ready to go by the start of training camp. However, he also suffered a traumatic injury, so much like Jazz alum Gordon Hayward, it will likely take him even longer to recover emotionally.
This should push Jazz fans to root harder for Hendricks
Jazz fans were already rooting for Hendricks even before all this happened. He was the No. 9 pick in the 2023 NBA Draft who came to the team as a long-term project who suffered an extremely unfortunate setback barely after his second season started.
His attitude with his recovery has nothing been short of heartwarming. Adding to his story is knowing how hard it was for him to accept that he lost his season only three games into it should only make fans cheer more for him to get back to the player he was and reach the potential Utah saw in him when they drafted him.
It might be hard to mix and match Hendricks' place in the rotation with the Jazz's current roster, but there's a solid chance that when the offseason is all said and done, Utah will put him in a position to thrive just like they did when the 2024-25 season started.
It might be a while before Hendricks gets back to what he was pre-leg injury, but it's a process Jazz fans should be patient with, and one they should definitely cheer on every step of the way.