Report: Patrick Beverley Out Indefinitely After Tearing Meniscus

If you’re the schadenfreude sort, you should still hold your tongue. Patrick Beverley, the pest of a point guard for the Rockets â€” who has annoyed everyone from Russell Westbrook to Blazers stud Damian Lillard – left last night’s game against the Sixers with what was reported at the time as a sprained knee. But Yahoo Sports reports Beverley has torn his meniscus and is listed as out “indefinitely.”

Here’s Woj:

Houston guard Patrick Beverley has suffered a torn meniscus in his knee, league sources tell Yahoo Sports. Timetable for return unclear.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) March 28, 2014

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And here’s Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle with word from Beverley’s agent and coach Kevin McHale:

“He has a torn meniscus, we’re not 100 percent sure how bad it is or what action we will take,” his agent Kevin Bradbury said. “We’re going to get to the docs and determine what’s best for Pat and for the organization. We should have some clarity early next week.

“I would say out indefenitely until we know more.”

Rockets coach Kevin McHale said it would be 7-10 days before the team would know a timetable for Beverley’s return.

As we know from Westbrook â€” who collided with Beverley’s knee in the playoffs last spring and tore his right lateral meniscus, before having two more surgeries to reduce swelling from a loose suture â€” meniscus tears are tricky propositions. The biggest difference is which meniscus is torn, which we don’t yet know with Beverley.

A lateral meniscus (on the outside of the knee) is usually a lot worse than a medial meniscus (inside) because it affects movement from side-to-side and stop-starts, a hallmark of any top-flight NBA point guard. And while Beverley’s offensive stats don’t jump out as elite, 9.9 points in 31.3 minutes per game, his on-the-ball defensive toughness provided an added edge the Rockets relied upon after he replaced Jeremy Lin in the starting lineup earlier this season.

This is why Westbrook’s meniscus tear frightened Thunder fans. His game is predicated on explosiveness towards the basket and some opined that he’d never be the same. They were wrong, but the risk of long-term damage is present any time a knee is involved.

Derrick Rose, on the other hand, suffered a medial meniscus tear earlier this season. But rather than shaving it down, like Dwyane Wade had done in college, Rose elected to reattach the meniscus to avoid more long-term problems.

Hopefully Beverley suffered just a slight medial meniscus tear, and surgery won’t even be required (I should know since I’ve partially torn mine snowboarding; it’s still a little janky when I ball). While Metta World Peace famously returned from a meniscus tear in 12 days, every person and body type is different, and there’s a reason Rose smartly decided to shut it down for the year.

As of now, we don’t know the severity of Beverley’s tear or when â€” if at all â€” he comes back to the court this season. Patrick is second only to James Harden for Rockets’ net plus/minus rating this season, per NBA.com. Houston will need his hawkish defense against the coterie of Western Conference point guards the Rockets will face in the playoffs. Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook, Tony Parker, Mike Conley Jr. and the like may have dodged a bullet if the injury keeps Beverley from competing in the playoffs, but we just don’t know at this time.