Sacramento Kings point guard De’Aaron Fox banged up his ankle during practice Monday and it appears the injury could be more serious than initially anticipated. According to a release, an MRI showed Fox sustained a left ankle sprain. Fox will be re-evaluated in 3-4 weeks though his expected return is likely longer than a month down the road.
Fox reportedly injured his ankle during a halfcourt drill at practice earlier in the week. Following from NBC Sports’ James Ham.
“After I got the MRI and the X-ray, before I got the results, I knew I was going to be out for a while,” Fox said media members. “It wasn’t like any ankle sprain I had before.”
The injury happened at the end of practice Monday. Head coach Luke Walton had the team going through a halfcourt drill and Fox rolled the ankle and limped off the court early.
Initially, Walton and the rest of the team didn’t think much of the injury, until they checked back in with Fox in the training room a little while later. Despite leaving the court on his own, the Kings starting point guard knew something wasn’t right instantly.
“When it happened, I tried to walk and couldn’t walk and I was like, something’s wrong,” Fox told media members in Sacramento on Thursday. “I heard it pop. It happened so quickly that no one saw it until we watched the film and we saw what happened. Things like this happen.”
The Kings have again struggled out of the gates but De’Aaron Fox has been a bright spot. The third-year playmaker is one of the best young players in the NBA and continues his ascent towards becoming an elite point guard.
Fox was averaging 18.2 points per game and 7 assists in his first season under head coach Luke Walton. At 4-7, the Kings can’t afford to go on a losing streak in an unforgiving Western Conference, but it’ll be tough for them to stay afloat without Fox.
