It happened in an instant.
Andre Roberson reached out for the lob and his leg just stopped working. Ruptured patellar tendon. Out for the season.
With Roberson’s injury, OKC lost its most impactful non-star wing player, a rangy defender who was already in the Defensive Player of the Year conversation. Single-number metrics have their flaws, but Roberson was 2nd in defensive Real Plus-Minus, a stat that typically favors big men. Though his offense was legitimately bad, his defense was so good that lineups he played in were net positives, even with the negative spacing he provided.