With nine minutes to play in the second quarter, the Rockets finished the play with a fastbreak dunk. But it led to the Utah Jazz’s Vince Williams Jr. spilling onto his bench. After going o-4 from the three-point line, the 25-year-old’s night ended on a very unfortunate note.

Rockets’ Josh Okogie had a steal and served it to Tari Eason for his fastbreak dunk. But during that play, the latter bumped into Williams Jr, who got injured and was carried to the locker room. Eason got tangled up in the transition, and then Williams, in an attempt to stabilize his right leg, landed on the Rocket star’s foot, which further exacerbated the issue. While planting his left leg, it buckled, and that hyperextension did not look good at all.

The commentators said, “That did not look good. Prayers for Vince Williams, man. He’s got no pressure on that leg. Hopefully just a hyper extension with that hand. That didn’t look good. All the best.”

At first, Vince Williams Jr. limped and had the support of the two staff members while entering the tunnel. However, the footage from the inside revealed that the Jazz star couldn’t even walk on one leg, and the support staff had to carry him like a baby to avoid further damage.

The reports later confirmed that the 25-year-old won’t take part in the game on Monday. In his five games played with the trade from Memphis, Williams has averaged 5.4 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 3.0 assists in 15.2 minutes per game, shooting 41.7% from the field and 42.9% from three-point range as a quality contributor on both ends of the floor.

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The 6-foot-4, he is capable of defending multiple positions on the perimeter, making his name on the defensive end of the floor. This injury adds to the already long list that Jazz has suffered.

Utah Jazz’s tanking efforts amid Vince Williams Jr.’s injury

NBA commissioner Adam Silver condemned the tanking efforts during his media availability at the All-Star weekend. He called this behavior “worse this year than we’ve seen in recent memory.” The NBA already fined the Jazz $500,000. But it’s been a brutal past two weeks for the Jazz in terms of injury management.

Before Vince Williams Jr. went down, Keyonte George had missed eight of his last nine games due to ankle injuries. Even Jusuf Nurkic was recently ruled out for the season before the game against Houston due to a surgical procedure on his nose. But the major injury news is around Jaren Jackson Jr., who needed surgery to address PVNS growth in his knee and will also be out for the season.

As the list becomes longer, Jazz coach Will Hardy’s responsibility to shoulder the blame for tanking reduces. With the extent of Vince Williams Jr.’s injury not known, Svi Mykhailiuk, John Konchar, or even two-way signee Elijah Harkless could have more playing time.