Xavier Henry Achilles Tear Puts Career in Jeopardy
Xavier Henry was four years too late. It was the spring of 2009, his senior year in high school. What he wanted to do, the door he wanted to walk through, was closed. No longer could Xavier or any high school player jump to the NBA. That ended in 2005. So, Xavier was forced to bide his time. Recruited by Memphis, Kentucky and Kansas, and dozens of other schools, Xavier Henry was one of the top high school guards in the country. Forced into college, the talented shooting guard had no intention of staying past one year. The NBA was his dream, and to his father’s way of thinking, the NBA was also Xavier’s destiny.
Mar 27, 2014; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Xavier Henry (7) during the game against the Milwaukee Bucks at BMO Harris Bradley Center. Milwaukee won 108-105. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
After high school in Oklahoma City, Xavier was set to enroll at Memphis but John Calipari jumped ship and went to Kentucky. Xavier decommitted which was how he wound up at Kansas. It didn’t hurt that both his parents attended Kansas, as did his aunt who was a dynamic basketball player who set records that still stand today.
Depending on how you judge greatness, the 2009-10 Kansas team that Xavier joined was superior. Or they were underachieving. Six players from that team are on NBA rosters today: Markieff and Marcus Morris, Xavier Henry, Thomas Robinson, Jeff Withey, Cole Aldridge. But that Kansas team lost in the NCAA Tournament in the second round to Northern Iowa. This after posting a 33-3 record. The Northern Iowa shocker was a game in which Henry was barely present. He was the starting shooting guard and only took six shots.
It would dog him as he made himself available for the draft. Was he aggressive enough? Did he have the ego of a Kobe Bryant or a Dwayne Wade? Did he have a mature game? Or was he just a complimentary player on a team that expected him to participate in a lesser role?
In a way, Xavier had an old school game. He wasn’t a transition player even though he could thrill with the occasional dunk. His bread and butter was in the half court; he played slow. He wasn’t particularly explosive. He wasn’t an isolation player. He rarely took the ball and drove to the rim. His greatest attribute outside of his wingspan and his ability to hit an open three was his unselfishness which in a sense was the problem. Shooting guards in the NBA have to be ego driven if they are to survive.
A lottery pick, Xavier was drafted by Memphis at #12. Lionel Hollins started Xavier over O.J. Mayo. He liked the possibility of what Xavier could do on defense. Because Xavier was such a team player, he had no problem feeding the ball to Marc Gasol or Zach Randolph. He was incredibly coachable, absent of a personal agenda. All he wanted was to play.
Mar 21, 2014; Los Angeles, CA, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Xavier Henry (7) is charged with an offensive foul on Washington Wizards guard John Wall (2) in the second half of the game at Staples Center. Wizards won 117-107. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-USA TODAY Sports
But wanting is the easy part. The hard part is the consequence of risking your body and the damage that comes with that.
His rookie year, it was Xavier’s right knee that was to blame. Soreness led to a diagnosis of a sprain. Tony Allen replaced him in the lineup and that was that. Xavier Henry was expendable.
He was traded to the New Orleans Hornets a year later and struggled. He had an ankle injury and even saw some time in the D-league. He had arthroscopic surgery for a meniscus tear on the same knee that suffered the sprain. The Hornets didn’t pick up his option and the Lakers, looking for training camp extras, signed him to a deal, expecting it would last a few weeks.
Even as he was ruthless in his desire to make the team, his production on the team was spotty. There was no Kobe Bryant-selfish ball excuse to lean upon. One night, against Portland, he shot 75%, scoring 24 points. The next night he took four shots and had 4 points. His erratic nature made it hard to depend on him as a consistent player you could count on which left his career as one of a role player, a journeyman.
Every team needs someone who can shoot- and this is the important thing- every team needs production on a night to night basis. They need a player they can trust. Xavier was never a creator or a player who demanded the ball. So who was he exactly?
He was injured again in January 2014. Once more his knee lost its stability. More surgery and rehab and now this. An Achilles tear, the worst basketball injury to sustain, worse than a ripped ACL, worse than a broken foot, worse than a separated shoulder or broken wrist. To come back from an Achilles injury you have to drive yourself to the depths of suffering, to the brink of reality. You have to have something to prove and are so damned desperate about it you are willing to slay fate. Desperate and Xavier Henry have never gone together.
Xavier was already struggling this year to regain his form after knee surgery (2 points, 23% shooting). You have to wonder if the NBA dream his father Carl pushed for all of Xavier’s life is just about over.