X-rays taken of Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons’ sprained right ankle were negative, coach Chauncey Billups said following the team’s 126-101 loss Tuesday to the Washington Wizards.
The injury occurred late in the third quarter when Simons shot a short floater and came down on the back of Washington forward Kyle Kuzma’s foot causing the Blazers’ second-leading scorer to roll his ankle.
The training staff helped Simons off the court and he did not return to the game.
Simons was expected to undergo an MRI on Wednesday.
“I guess we’ll kind of see the severity tomorrow,” Blazers coach Chauncey Billups said. “We’ll get an MRI on it. It didn’t look awesome, though.”
Simons, who scored 17 points in 26 minutes, could be seen after the game on crutches while talking and smiling with his parents, Tameka and Charles Simons, in town from Florida. Also there was Damian Lillard.
Simons appeared to be able to put some weight on his right ankle.
The All-Star break starts now for the Blazers and Simons, who was scheduled to compete in the three-point contest on Saturday. That could be in jeopardy.
The Blazers don’t play again until Feb. 23 at Sacramento. So, that gives Simons more than a week to get healthy.
But a sprained ankle, depending on the severity, could mean weeks on the sideline. Blazers forward Justise Winslow suffered a grade 2 left ankle sprain on Dec. 21 during a loss at Oklahoma City.
He was originally ruled out for at least two weeks. That was 27 games ago.
Losing Simons for any length of time would be a major blow for the Blazers (28-30). He ranks second in both scoring (21.4 points per game) and assists (4.2) and is shooting 45.1% from the field and 38.1% on threes. Although Simons starts at shooting guard, he also backs up Lillard at point guard.
With Josh Hart and Gary Payton II now on other teams, Simons’ absence could lead to playing time for newly acquired guard Ryan Arcidiacono.
Lillard, for one, left the Moda Center worried about the possibility of losing Simons while the team is already dealing with injuries to two other starters, Jerami Grant (concussion) and Jusuf Nurkic (calf).
“It is concerning because ankles can be tricky,” Lillard said. “Everybody’s body responds differently. His looked like it was a pretty significant one.”
Simons, Lillard said, rarely reacts when injured. So, when he stayed down on the ground, Lillard said he knew the injury must be significant.
Regardless of how long Simons is out, Lillard said the team must find a way to remain in the playoff race.
“That creates even more of an uphill battle for our team,” Lillard said. “But like I’ve been saying, we’ve got to continue to push forward and try to put ourselves in position to where when we do get healthy that we’re still in the hunt. We can’t feel bad for ourselves or look for any excuses or any crutches or anything like that.”
— Aaron Fentress | afentress@Oregonian.com | @AaronJFentress (Twitter), @AaronJFentress (Instagram), @AaronFentress (Facebook). Subscribe to Oregonian/OregonLive newsletters and podcasts
