Washington Wizards’ Thomas Bryant Suffers ACL Injury

Washington Wizards starting center Thomas Bryant has suffered a torn ACL and is expected to be done for the season as he will require surgery

Bryant hurt his knee less than two minutes into the first quarter of the Wizards’ game against the Miami Heat last Saturday. He fell down awkwardly on his left leg, while under the basket, after incidental contact with two Heat players. Bryant immediately favored the leg while he lay in pain for a while on the floor. He had to be helped to the locker room by team trainers and would not return to the game.

An MRI the following morning revealed that the Wizards center tore the ACL of his left knee during the fall. The Wizards announced the diagnosis on Sunday and revealed that Bryant’s season is likely over.

The 23-year old from Rochester, New York was having his best season ever. Bryant was averaging a career-high 14.3 points per game while shooting 64.8% from the floor along with 6.1 rebounds in 27.1 minutes of action per game this season. He was one of only two Washington players to start the team’s first 10 games of the 2020-21 NBA season.

Former Lakers’ Player

Bryant was the 42nd overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz after playing college basketball for the Indiana Hoosiers. But he was immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers along with the 30th pick, guard Josh Hart, for the Lakers’ 28th pick Tony Bradley.

He signed a two-way contract with the Lakers and was assigned to their G League affiliate South Bay Lakers where he was named to the All-G League First Team. Bryant played 15 games for the Lakers during the 2017-18 season, averaging 1.5 points and 1.1 rebounds per game in just 4.8 minutes of action.

After he was waived by the Lakers on June 30, 2018, he was picked up by the Wizards off the waivers. Bryant started 53 of 75 games played for the Wizards during the 2018-19 season and he averaged 10.5 points and 6.3 rebounds in 20.8 minutes of action. He would improve his averages the following season and put up career-best numbers before the injury.

Bryant’s injury only adds to the Wizards’ woes this season. Washington is off to a poor 2-8 start and they currently have the worst record in the league despite Bradley Beal off to a torrid start while leading the league in scoring at 35.0 points per game and Russell Westbrook starting his Washington career with four straight triple doubles.

The Wizards are a longshot 10th at +7500 to win the Eastern Conference at online sportsbook SportsBetting.ag. They also have the second-worst odds to win the Southeast Division at just +1200 with only the Charlotte Hornets worse at +2200 at the same bookmaker.

Heading to Monday’s games, the Wizards are without Beal who is out for a week due to the league’s COVID-19 contact tracing protocol while Westbrook is dealing with a quad injury that he suffered during last Wednesday’s game against Philadelphia. Even when healthy, Westbrook has not been allowed to play back to back games this season as a precaution from a past injury.