On Wednesday, January 23rd, the Indiana Pacers’ starting shooting guard Victor Oladipo injured his right knee late in the second quarter of a game vs the Toronto Raptors.  The injury occurred when Oladipo planted his right foot while running after the Raptors’ Pascal Siakam on a fast break.  Oladipo had to be carted off.

He had ruptured his quadriceps tendon.  The quadriceps is the large muscle in the front of the thigh.  It straightens the knee.  The quadriceps tendon attaches the muscle to the knee cap (patella).  The patellar tendon attaches the patella to the lower leg (tibia).

Quadriceps rupture is fairly obvious on examination.  The ubiquitous “athlete MRI” that seems to be obtained routinely and largely unhelpfully can be useful in this circumstance to plan surgery.  A completely ruptured quad tendon prevents an individual from straightening the knee.  Without surgery, it would be difficult to walk let alone play basketball. This injury is ready to take force after about 6 months, but it will take a while to strengthen the muscle and get back into game shape.  Oladipo may be ready to play by the beginning of next season.  Former San Antonio Spurs starting point guard Tony Parker also ruptured his quadriceps tendon in early May 2017 during the NBA Playoffs.  He received surgery two days after the injury and returned to play six-and-a-half months later.

It is worth noting that Oladipo has missed nearly a dozen games this season due to an undisclosed right knee problem.  A normal quadriceps tendon is unlikely to rupture, so that problem may have been quadriceps tendinopathy.  Quadriceps tendon ruptures generally occur in people over age 40, with most cases occurring in people in the 50-60 age range.  Quadriceps rupture is very rare among NBA players, and 26-year-old Oladipo is relatively young for this injury.  Charles Barkley and Tony Parker both sustained the injury later in their careers at age 36 and 34, respectively.