When Moses Moody went down with a gruesome torn patellar tendon in March against the Dallas Mavericks, there were fears it would wipe out much of the following Golden State Warriors season for the young wing.
Moody could instead make a remarkably early return as soon as December, putting even more pressure on some of his teammates to perform when the regular season gets underway against the Los Angeles Lakers on Wednesday.
Moses Moody's early return puts even more pressure on teammates
There's already heightened pressure on healthy Warrior players to perform given the absences of Jimmy Butler, Kristaps Porzingis and Moody to start the season. That's increased though with the potential of an early Moody return, with a number of players needing to solidify their roles to avoid falling victim to a minutes crunch when the former 14th overall pick returns.
"The recovery results have been encouraging. Team sources indicate that Moody is ahead of Butler's pace, and the internal expectation is that Moody will return before Butler," ESPN's Anthony Slater wrote on Friday."The current belief is Moody could return in the December-to-January range."
Moody was one of Golden State's best players and a starter for all but 11 of his 60 games before the injury last season. His scoring increased from 9.8 to 12.1 points per game, he was one of their primary perimeter defenders, and was the only Warrior to shoot above 40% from three of players who took more than 30 attempts.
While it will understandably take time for the 24-year-old to ramp back up to a full workload, he's a 25-minute per game player who will take time away from teammates sooner rather than later. Who exactly feels the effect will likely be determined by individual performances over the first six weeks/two months of the season.
Multiple players could feel impact of Moses Moody return
Gary Payton II, Georges Niang and even De'Anthony Melton are reserves who could find themselves impacted by Moody's return, particularly the former two who would appear on the edge of the rotation heading into the season anyway.
Even Brandin Podziemski and Gui Santos, both of who could be starters come opening night next week, could lose minutes to Moody if they don't justify the time and investment placed on them early in the season.
An early Moody return would be a major boost for the Warriors, and at the end of the day, a battle for rotation minutes is only a good thing for a team whose injury concerns have allowed such pressure over recent times.
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