Andre Roberson taken off on stretcher after injuring patellar tendon

Thunder guard Andre Roberson fell hard in the third quarter of Saturday's game vs. the Pistons while going up for an alley-oop, and remained down on the court for several minutes until a stretcher was brought out.

ESPN's Royce Young initially said Roberson had a "severe left leg injury" and those concerns turned out to be true. Before the game was even over, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski‏ reported, per a source, that Roberson had ruptured his patellar tendon. He also added, "There is still testing to do on Roberson to confirm full severity of leg injury."

Goes without saying, but man, what a shame for Andre Roberson. Was headed for a first-team All-Defense selection, and was going to have his name in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year.
— Royce Young (@royceyoung) January 28, 2018

After the game, coach Billy Donovan provided some additional details on the injury.
"It's a patellar tendon injury," he confirmed. "We're going to find out more details when we get back to Oklahoma. It's unfortunate how severe it will end up being.

"He's certainly a huge loss," Donovan added. "Everyone's been able to see that since he's kinda come back to us and what he's been able to do defensively. And he's found a way to be, offensively, a really effective player for us."The injury, if confirmed to be torn, will require season-ending surgery."

Roberson's teammates looked on in anguish as the medical team worked on him. Roberson himself was seen with tears in his eyes, as he kept biting on a towel on his exit out of the arena.

Andre Roberson's face tells you all you need to know about his diagnosis: Fear the worst. #Thunder pic.twitter.com/957YMcSoe2
— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) January 27, 2018

LeBron James and Stephen Curry were just some of the athletes to reach out to Robinson after the injury happened.

Prayers sent to @FLYDre21! Hope you gone be good homie. 🙏🏾
— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 27, 2018

Stay strong @boogiecousins and Andre Roberson! Prayers your way for a strong recovery 🙏🏽
— Stephen Curry (@StephenCurry30) January 28, 2018

As far as what's next, expect rookie Terrance Ferguson to replace Roberson in the starting lineup. But that's just in the short term. Oklahoma City could contemplate a trade ahead of the league's Feb. 8 deadline. The Thunder would look for a defensive playmaker that could help replace what they lost in Robinson