TUESDAY, 2:04pm: Henry is expected to recover in time to for the start of next season, the Lakers note amid an announcement acknowledging that he underwent surgery today. Henry’s contract only covers this season, however, so he’ll have to convince teams that he’s healthy in free agency.
MONDAY, 6:33pm: The Lakers have confirmed that Henry is expected to be out for the rest of the season, the team announced. He’ll have surgery Tuesday.
5:09pm: The MRI showed that the Achilles is torn, and Henry will miss the rest of the season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports (on Twitter).
2:31pm: The Lakers suspect that Xavier Henry ruptured his left Achilles tendon during practice today, the team announced (Twitter link). Henry is undergoing an MRI to confirm the initial diagnosis. The injury would probably knock the 23-year-old out for the season, though there’s no timetable yet. The team is already expected to be without Steve Nash and No. 7 overall pick Julius Randle for the rest of 2014/15.
Bleacher Report’s Kevin Ding suggested recently that the Lakers were likely to release Henry if they signed Quincy Miller, one of several players the Lakers reportedly worked out in the past several days. The Lakers used a portion of their room exception to re-sign Henry this summer to a fully guaranteed one-year deal for $1.082MM, but he’s struggled to come back from a series of injuries that have plagued him since his hot start for the Lakers last season. The 12th overall pick from the 2010 draft is averaging just 2.2 points in 9.6 minutes per game in nine regular season appearances so far this year.
Henry’s deal is one of 13 fully guaranteed pacts for the Lakers, who also have Ronnie Price and Wayne Ellington on partially guaranteed contracts, as our roster counts show. Ryan Kelly is out at least another five weeks with a torn right hamstring, so a long-term injury for Henry would put the Lakers in line to receive a 16th roster spot if they apply for one and if the league allows it. The NBA has already granted a Disabled Player Exception for Randle, which lets the Lakers exceed the minimum salary to sign a player, and the team’s application for a more sizable DPE for Nash, which would be worth nearly $4.851MM, is still pending, as we passed along earlier today.