Donovan Clingan Out at Least One Week With Left Ankle Sprain
Clingan suffered the injury near the end of the Trail Blazers' Tuesday loss to Brooklyn.
The Trail Blazers escaped Tuesday night’s loss to the Brooklyn Nets with some positive news about rookie center Donovan Clingan.
With just over 90 seconds left in the game, Clingan went down with an apparent left leg injury and hobbled back to the locker room, slapping the top of the tunnel in frustration. He had already left the game once in the first half to get examined after getting hit in the face, but came back in.
The Blazers announced on Wednesday afternoon that Clingan had suffered what they’re calling a mild left ankle sprain and will be re-evaluated in one week.
All things considered, this is good news that the injury wasn’t more severe, especially since Clingan already missed time earlier in the season with an MCL sprain in the same knee.
That injury kept Clingan out for seven games. Since he came back, he struggled compared to his promising start to the year, but after a rest day in New Orleans last Wednesday, he had one of his strongest performances of the season in a loss to Dallas the following day.
Given that Clingan has already dealt with an injury to his left leg this season, expect the Blazers to be cautious in the coming days with this ankle sprain. If he’s cleared after one week, he could return during next week’s three-game road trip to Miami, Orlando and Charlotte; it may make more sense to hold him out until the Blazers return home to face Oklahoma City on Jan. 26.
That game against the Thunder kicks off a seven-game homestand that extends through the Feb. 6 trade deadline and also includes games against Milwaukee, Orlando, Phoenix (twice), Indiana and Sacramento. That homestand is also when Matisse Thybulle will likely make his season debut. Thybulle suffered a severe right ankle sprain in late November and the Blazers initially said he’d be out three to six weeks. On Saturday, as the six weeks approached, the team said he was continuing to progress well and would be out for two more weeks.
For the Blazers’ Thursday game against the L.A. Clippers, Jerami Grant remains out as he continues to deal with jaw and neck pain from a facial contusion he suffered during Dec. 28’s win over the Dallas Mavericks. Deni Avdija is doubtful after missing the Nets game with a right ankle sprain, and Robert Williams III is doubtful after missing the last two games with an illness.
Seems like a good stretch of games to make up some ground on the teams that have more losses than the Blazers do.