UPDATE 7:27 pm: What was feared has become official — Lakers forward Xavier Henry is done for the season, the team announced Monday.
As noted by Adrian Wojnarowski at Yahoo Sports, the Lakers have already been granted a $1.5 million Disabled Player Exception to bring in a new a player (it must be used by March 10). The team has reached out to the league about a second one of those, although it would be for less money and not able to land much.
Not that anyone they get at those prices will help the 3-11 team.
3:50 pm: This is bad news, via Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Daily News.
Xavier Henry is getting an MRI. Lakers believe he has a ruptured left Achilles
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) November 24, 2014
Byron Scott said Xavier Henry had injury in 3-on-3-on-3 drill. Scott said, "he heard a pop." Common in Achilles' injury
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) November 24, 2014
Ouch.
This is just not fair to Xavier Henry, who showed glimpses of promise in Mike D’Antoni’s system but has just never been able to stay healthy. He’s had a multiple major knee surgeries in his career, and coach Byron Scott suggested that took away from his explosiveness and Henry would have to adapt his game (and Henry got a couple of D-League games in this season for the Lakers). Henry didn’t see it that way and said he planned to keep playing his attacking style.
This is a brutal setback.
The Lakers now have three players out for the season — Henry, Julius Randle and Steve Nash — plus a fourth in Ryan Kelly who could miss significant time. Reports are the Lakers have already reached out to the league to discuss a disabled player exception or other option to add another player to the roster.
