Domantas Sabonis injured his ankle against the Philidelphia 76ers on Monday. Let’s examine the injury in more depth.
Domantas Sabonis has been one of the many iron men for the Indiana Pacers this season. Through the teams first 68 games, he missed only two of them. It seemed like time after time he would play through minor injuries and ailments to help the team out, he has been a true professional all year long. Unfortunately, he will be forced to miss time now — he went down with a sprained ankle on Tuesday in Philadelphia.
If you didn’t see the play, Joel Embiid fell after taking a small shove from Trevor Booker. This chain reaction led him falling right on to Sabonis’ legs while he was collapsing, and Domas’ ankle got caught at the bottom of the pile:
Here's how Domantas Sabonis suffered his injury.... Joel Embiid fell on his leg pic.twitter.com/7vDLCoaWdH
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) March 14, 2018
Sabonis was later carried off the court by some of his teammates, another storybook moment for this team — showcasing their chemistry and brotherhood that they have displayed on and off the court all year.
Sabonis was deemed “questionable to return” to the game after that play, but he ultimately did not return. He has already been ruled out for tonight’s game against the Toronto Raptors and his status going forward is unknown thanks to a lack of knowledge about the severity of the injury.
Thankfully, the x-rays came up negative, meaning Domantas Sabonis avoided anything serious:
Sabonis (sprained left ankle) was on crutches in #Pacers locker room. Will have MRI on Wednesday. Too early for timetable. Still wasn't putting much weight on it. ""We did an X-ray, nothing's broken," Sabonis said. "I just hope to recover as fast as I can and help my teammates."
— Clifton Brown (@CliftonGBrown) March 14, 2018
Injury expert Jeff Stotts of InStreetClothes.com has written articles about all the various levels of ankle sprains. A grade one sprain isn’t enough of an injury to miss much time; that is likely what Trevor Booker is dealing with now (more on that momentarily).
A grade two ankle sprain can take anywhere from a few days to three weeks to heal appropriately. Anthony Davis had this before the 2016 NBA season and had a recovery slightly shorter than two weeks, per Stotts.
Grade three is where things get dicey and lengthy. If you recall, Reggie Jackson suffered this injury in a game against the Pacers this season, back in late December.
He still isn’t back on the court. Grade three sprains take months to heal fully. Thankfully, it sounds like Sabonis’ ankle sprain is somewhere between a grade one and two, which isn’t incredibly severe. Given that he was questionable to return to the game Tuesday and has only been ruled out for one game (so far), he could be back as soon as this weekend’s game against Washington.
In his stead, Trevor Booker will presumably soak up his minutes. That is exactly why they signed him! The problem is, he suffered an ankle sprain of his own and is questionable to play against Toronto:
Injury report for tomorrow vs. Toronto.
— Indiana Pacers (@Pacers) March 14, 2018
Domantas Sabonis: Out (sprained left ankle)
Trevor Booker: Questionable (sprained right ankle)
Ankle problems everywhere! If Booker can’t go either, expect a healthy dose of Al Jefferson at the backup center position. Thankfully, Jefferson has shown this year that he can be useful in limited minutes, so there is hope that he can be effective if called on.
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How much time Sabonis will miss should become more clear in the coming days, but the early returns suggest it won’t be a long period. Let’s hope for the best — in both his health and team’seams success without him.